The Sheep Among Wolves
by Zeuzul
Summary: Becoming a hero is hard enough for Izuku as is. It gets a bit more complicated once he gets into the single worst hero school in the country. A school full of delinquents and bad apples. U.A. (Izuku x Harem, eventually)
1. Chapter 1: The Tender Lamb

"...Happy Birthday, Izuku." Inko brought out a small slice with a single candle on it. She smiled and the creasing of her cheeks made the bags under her eyes more pronounced.

The light of the tiny flame danced in Izuku's bright green eyes. He was 4 years old as of this day.

He bounced happily on a creaky chair, the smile on his face easily outshining the candle with its childlike brilliance.

Inko placed the slice on the small table and readjusted the hood on her hero costume. She had her gloves off and there were some small tears along the seams. It was also peppered with sections where previous tears had been stitched up.

"Make a wish, sweetie."

Izuku's chubby little face tilted up towards her. "Where's daddy?"

Inko's lips pressed tightly together. She fought the urge to say what was immediately on her mind. In one of her pockets sat an almost dead phone from her having called Hisashi repeatedly without answer.

"He's um...I'm not sure where he is right now." Seeing the slight dip in Izuku's smile Inko quickly reached behind her grabbing for a small box.

"It's okay, Izuku. Don't you want to want to open your present?" She held the small box out for him.

It was an old box for some throwaway product and it wasn't even wrapped up but Izuku's present was hiding inside.

Izuku took it and began opening the box.

Inko anxiously rubbed her palms together. It had taken her a while to save up enough money to buy Izuku a present so she decided to go with something that would last a while.

Inko rubbed one thumb against the other. She wondered if she'd done right with his gift.

Izuku pulled out a green hat that was far too big for his small head. It had two built in bunny ears that matched color on the top.

Inko bit her finger. The hat was certainly large enough that he could keep using it as he grew older but she had her doubts.

_What if he doesn't like it? I should have gotten him something else. Maybe I should have gone with a toy. I was dumb for going with a gift like this. Who cares if it lasts long if he doesn't like it? _

Izuku pulled the hat onto his small head. He adjusted and readjusted with his hands because it didn't fit him.

He turned to Inko with the hat lifted just enough that his big green eyes could peer at her. "Mommy, look!" He squealed excitedly. "I look like All Might!"

To Inko he looked more like a shining baby bunny with the hat on. She rushed forward pulling her baby boy into a hug which Izuku happily returned.

Inko kissed his forehead and ran her fingers through his hair feeling her eyes get misty. She felt blessed that of all the ways her son could be, he was like this: a sweet boy with such a positive outlook.

She held onto him for another moment placing a second kiss on his forehead for good measure.

"I love you, Mommy!" Izuku held onto the hat with one hand and Inko with his other.

"I love you too, sweetie." Inko pulled away from Izuku and held out her hands in his direction.

Izuku slowly rose upwards off the ground towards Inko's hands. As he got closer to Inko she stepped back making it so her quirk kept pulling on him and moving him through the air after her.

Izuku held the hat with one hand and aimed the other forward as he "flew" with the help of Inko around the small apartment.

Izuku's giggles filled the air as they took a few laps.

It finally ended when Inko stopped stepping back and let Izuku fly into her arms.

Inko cleared her throat. "Now, don't you want to make a wish?" She gestured to the single slice with the candle still burning.

Izuku adjusted himself so he was still partially hugging Inko, holding his hat, and facing the candle.

"I wish I get a cool quirk." He blew out the candles, his cheeks looking puffy in the process.

Inko silently wished for the same thing. Whatever Izuku wanted, as long as it made him happy.

* * *

Izuku slept peacefully on the only bed in the small apartment. He clutched the rabbit hat burying his sleeping face into it.

Out in the living room Inko passed around talking quietly into the phone. "Can you just take him to the doctor on that day? Just to the doctor and back. It's the only day I'm asking for, I would take him myself if I could."

Inko listened patiently.

She gripped the phone tightly. "Please, Hisashi. He's your son."

She listened again to the other end.

Inko took a deep breath. "You already missed his birthday. Don't you dare miss the appointment."

Another second to listen. "Exactly that's what I thought."

She hung up and clenched her hands letting out a silent scream.

Inko took some time to collect her thoughts and let the anger from that call pass.

She sighed in frustration and went to check on Izuku.

She found him curled up with the hat. Inko laid down on the bed next to him pulling the covers over both of them. She gently parted his bangs and leaned forward.

Inko placed a kiss on his sleeping face. "Good night, Izuku."

Izuku stirred and turned more in her direction.

Inko worried for a second that she'd woken him up.

Izuku buried his face into her chest and clung to his mother in a sleep ridden hug. The hat was now between the two of them.

Inko wrapped her arms around him, pulling him closer.

She drifted off to sleep with her son in her arms.

* * *

"Daddy!" Izuku hugged Hisashi's leg tightly.

Hisashi reached down with one hand, apprehensively waiting for a second and then patting Izuku's hair. "Ready to go?"

Izuku let go with a look of surprise before running back into the apartment.

Hisashi let out a sigh and tapped his foot.

Izuku rushed back out holding his green hat and smiling brightly.

Hisashi held out a hand and Izuku took it.

On the train ride to the doctor, Hisashi sat with his arms crossed while Izuku sat up gazing out the window.

They arrived at their stop and found the doctor's office very close to the station. The building was very rundown. Only half of the letters on the office's sign were lit up.

The two went inside and had to wait for an hour on creaky and uncomfortable chairs.

When the doctor finally came to meet them, he ended up taking a half hour doing tests.

The exams finished and Izuku waited patiently next to Hisashi who crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently.

The doctor peeked at them unenthusiastically from behind a clipboard and scratched his greying mustache. "Certainly hope you weren't banking on being a hero. You're quirkless so I'd give that up as soon as possible."

Izuku sat in silence his tiny hands clutching his hat in his lap.

"If you head back out into the lobby and talk to the woman at the front you can pa-"

"That's it?" Hisashi's eyebrows twitched. "We come all this way and have to wait then you just do a quick test and just a 'quirkless that's it'? How do you even know for sure that he is? Maybe you didn't test well enough."

The doctor sighed, clearly irritated with Hisashi. The doctor pointed to an x-ray on the wall. "This is your kid's foot. Notice anything about it?"

Izuku bit his lip as he listened to the doctor explain why and how the current science suggested not only that he did not have a quirk but that he would never get one.

The ride back home was mostly silent with the exception of Hisashi grumbling under his breath.

They got back to the apartment and Izuku trudged to the bedroom with his head down.

Hisashi closed the door, watched the boy for a moment then went to the fridge looking for something to eat.

Izuku got into bed laying on his side and slipping the hat over his head, covering the tears streaming down his face.

* * *

The only light on in the apartment was the one in the kitchen. The rest of the apartment was covered in darkness.

The silence of the night was interrupted by Inko's steps on the kitchen floor as she paced while on the phone. She was fuming.

She had only recently gotten home to find Izuku alone, sleeping. There was no sign of Hisashi and he hadn't called Inko when he and Izuku had gotten home.

She'd been trying to reach Hisashi for a couple of minutes until finally a groggy voice answered her.

"What!?" It was Hisashi sounding like he'd just woken up. There was the sound of something clattering across the floor on his end.

"What do you mean 'what'?" Inko brow was furrowed. "You didn't call when you got him back home and you didn't even wait for me to get back so he wouldn't be alone."

Inko was fighting to keep herself from yelling. "What if something happened to him while he was by himself?"

"He's still there isn't he so what the hell does it matter if he was by himself!?" Hisashi was beginning to wake up properly and was getting ramped up in his anger.

"Are you kidding me?" Inko felt her voice raise. "He's your son, you're supposed to look after him!" She quickly glanced over to the bedroom to make sure she hadn't woken Izuku up.

There wasn't even a stir from the bedroom and soon the pair went back to arguing on the phone.

They went back and forth and Inko kept having to stop herself or risk waking Izuku up.

She felt ready to explode. _Why is he being like this? It's like he wants to fight. _

"Hisashi…" She had to speak through gritted teeth at this point.

"No! That's it, I'm done tiptoeing around this, Inko. It's over."

"What do you mean it's over?"

"I mean I'm not going to let myself be held back by some two-bit hero and a quirkless runt!"

Inko felt like the wind was knocked out of her. She leaned back against the kitchen counter. Her voice now just barely a whisper, "He's quirkless?"

"Yeah, that old man went on with his mumbo jumbo about pinky toes and shit!" There was a second of silence before he spoke again. "Goodbye, Inko."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Her knuckles were white from gripping the phone so hard. "You can't just abandon us."

"The hell I can't, we're not married and he's-"

"He's your son…" She answered weakly.

"I don't have a son."

The phone clicked and all Inko heard was a dial tone.

Her eyes filled with tears that she desperately fought back as she dialed Hisashi's number again and again.

Each time she called there was no response.

She punched in the numbers on more time and brought up the phone to her ear.

"_ The number you are calling is no long-" _

Inko threw the phone and it bounced off a wall.

Her legs gave out as she slid down the side of the counter and brought up her hands to her face. The tears she fought throughout the argument came rushing out of her on that kitchen floor.

She wasn't sure how long she cried. It could have been a few seconds or a few hours. All she knew was that it felt like she'd never stop.

There was a sudden shifting and creaking of a bed.

Inko whipped her head up.

She violently shook her head wiping furiously at her eyes to remove any and all traces of her tears.

Inko forced herself up and stumbled towards the bedroom still wiping her now stinging eyes.

She entered the bedroom to see Izuku turning and sliding the hat off his head.

"Daddy?" His voice was quiet and his eyes red.

Inko sat down, her eyes watering again. "No, it's just mommy, sweetie." She put her arms around him, pulling him into a hug.

Izuku clung to her not saying anything else as Inko laid down next to him.

Inko felt the tears leave her eyes. "It's ok, sweetie. It's going to be ok."

She gently rubbed Izuku's back as the two waited to fall asleep.

* * *

Izuku sat and waited patiently at the daycare. It had been a few days since his visit since his visit to the doctor.

Izuku watched a pair of twins leave the daycare with their father, holding hands.

He sighed and hugged his green hat tightly to his chest.

One of the orderlies shuffled awkwardly nearby. "You um...is your mom getting here late again?"

Izuku nodded silently.

The orderly twiddled his thumbs. "Some of the other kids are also staying late if you want to go play with them. I noticed you hadn't been playing with anyone recently."

Izuku didn't respond.

The orderly fiddled around with his own hands for a few incredibly silent and awkward moments before deciding to leave.

Izuku gently swayed his feet off the edge of his chair as he stared at the afternoon sun rays passing through the windows.

He could hear some of children playing outside. Izuku looked at his hat then dropped down from the chair. He tucked away his hat behind the rest of his stuff making sure it was hidden from view.

He walked outside, the door being left open so kids could either play outside or stay inside as they pleased.

Izuku saw one kid running with a plastic ball towards a group of other kids. The kid fell and dropped the ball then picked himself back up giggling as he grabbed the ball and joined the group.

Izuku took a step towards them then stopped, turned around and went in the other direction towards some bushes.

He stood around for about a minute before hearing a voice cooing.

"Pretty birdie. Poor pretty birdie."

Izuku poked through the bushes to the other side and saw a girl with blonde hair made up in messy buns.

Izuku recognized her. She sometimes stayed at the daycare with the rest of the kids but not as often. There were times where she was gone for up to a week. When she was at the daycare Izuku never saw her talk to anyone.

Izuku himself hadn't talked to any of the other kids since he had gone to the doctor and everyone at the daycare had learned about it.

The girl was talking to something in her hands. Izuku peered at her as she slowly shifted about until he saw what it was. The girl was petting a small bloodied bird.

"Pretty little birdie." She laid a kiss on its still form. "It's okay, birdie."

She pulled back and Izuku saw there was some blood on her face as she went back to petting the bird.

"EW! She's doing it again!"

Izuku snapped his head in the direction of the new voice to see three boys; one with long fingers, one with red bat-like wings and an angry looking blond.

Izuku subconsciously rubbed his arms remembering his last encounter with Bakugo. Standing between the blond and his target had not worked out well for Izuku.

Bakugo looked at the girl with nothing but disgust. "The adults said to not do that anymore."

"Look, it's even worse than last time. She killed it." The boy with the long fingers pointed from beside Bakugo.

"T-that's not true. I didn't hurt it!" The girl brought the bird closer to herself as if shielding it from their sight.

"She's even got blood on her face." The boy with the wings spread them out making himself seem larger.

Bakugo scrunched up his nose. "I bet you used that nasty quirk again."

"It's not gross." The girl wiped her face smearing the blood on her sleeves.

Bakugo stepped forward followed by his goons and Izuku tensed up watching the blond's fingers twitch as he readied his quirk.

Bakugo reached out and grabbed at the girl's hand trying to snatch the bird.

The girl protested pulling back to keep the bird out of Bakugo's hands. "Let it go! Stop!"

Bakugo tugged harder. "Stop using that nasty quirk you freak!"

There were tears in the girl's eyes. "I didn't. I didn't use my quirk."

"Whatever. I bet you're just waiting to get some of our blood too aren't you, you vampire!"

"Stop...please." The girl was fully crying now.

Izuku flinched inwardly knowing what was about to happen was going to hurt. He forced himself to step out from the bushes. "Stop it, Kacchan. You're making her cry."

The sneer Bakugo gave Izuku held even more disdain than what he'd shown the girl. "Trying to play hero again, Deku." He practically hissed out the last word.

Izuku clenched his small hands into fists at his sides. "Stop it already. She wasn't bothering anyone."

"She wasn't staying in her place. She shouldn't use that nasty quirk, that _evil _quirk." Bakugo's brow creased. "And you shouldn't try picking fights when you're so weak, _Deku _."

Bakugo turned back towards the girl and hit her in the face igniting a small explosion in his hand as he did. The girl cried out and let go of the bird as she fell backwards onto the ground.

Izuku made to rush for Bakugo but the two kids with Bakugo overpowered him and pushed him onto the ground as well. Izuku's right shoe slipped partially off his foot as he hit the ground.

Bakugo held the bird in his hand and pulled his arm back. "Now maybe you'll learn to not use that ugly quirk, you wannabe."

Bakugo threw with as much force as he could, adding another small explosion to the end of the throw and sending the bird flying into the distance.

The girl bared her teeth despite still crying.

Bakugo's face scrunched up in anger and he raised his hands with his palms facing towards her.

Izuku still on the ground reached for his shoe that was partially off and picked it up. He got up and as the two boys with Bakugo rushed him Izuku threw the shoe as hard as he could.

It hit Bakugo in the head with a satisfying _thunk _as Izuku was forced to the ground by the two boys.

Bakugo looked at Izuku first with disbelief then with rage and he rushed the boy who was already on the ground.

Izuku tried to fight back against the three boys but they were larger and had him on the ground.

The girl grabbed the red shoe Izuku had thrown that was on the ground near her.

She ran at the pile of boys and threw the shoe as hard as she could.

An even heavier _thunk _resounded in the air as the shoe bounced off Bakugo's head for the second time.

Before he could turn around in deja vu disbelief the girl pounced him from behind and bit his arm sinking her rather pronounced canines into his skin.

Bakugo yelped as he stumbled back off of Izuku and tried to get the girl off his arm.

Izuku saw this and decided to follow the girl's lead by biting the extended fingers of the boy with said quirk.

That boy also yelped and Izuku put his foot against the abdomen of the winged boy pushing as hard as he could and making some distance between the two of them.

The boy with the long fingers used his free hand to swing at Izuku catching him in the cheek.

Izuku held his bite and grabbed at the boys free hand stopping him from swinging again.

Bakugo was still struggling with the girl and the winged boy backed off completely from Izuku taking to the air.

He flew over and behind Izuku and grabbed the back of Izuku's shirt trying to drag him away from the long fingered boy.

Izuku held on even as he felt the scraping of the dirt against his legs and back.

"Children! Children where are you!?" A voice rang from the direction of the building.

All of the kids stopped.

"You have to be in our sight, come back here!"

The voice began to get closer. "Are you kids playing around behind the bushes again!?"

Bakugo finally managed to shake himself from the girl's grasp and fangs. "Crap. We gotta go." He began rushing for the bushes.

When Bakugo's cronies didn't move he quickly added, "Come on, we're going to get in trouble."

The two goons let go of Izuku and chased after Bakugo, disappearing behind the bushes.

The girl spat out some blood on the ground. She walked towards Izuku picking up the red shoe and holding it out for him.

Izuku took the shoe. "Thank you...I'm sorry...about your bird."

The girl sat down next to him and wiped her eyes. "It wasn't mine. I found it."

Izuku put on his shoe.

The girl sniffled. "I didn't hurt the birdie."

"I know. I saw you taking care of it." He dusted off his shorts. "I'm Izuku by the way. Izuku Midoriya."

"Himiko Toga."

Izuku wiped at his face and Himiko spat blood on the ground again.

"Yuck, his was gross."

"Um, is that part of your quirk?"

Himiko looked right at him without saying anything for a moment. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it again. Instead she just nodded and tucked her knees up to her chest.

"How does it work?" Izuku also tucked his knees up to his chest, mimicking her.

She looked away from him and at her knees. "I need blood."

"Mhmm. And then what? What happens with your quirk?" Izuku rested his hands on his knees and then his head on them as well.

Himiko glanced at him out of the corner of her eye then back to her knees. "Then I can look like that person."

She glanced again to see Izuku's eyes light up with excitement.

"Exactly like them? Like if you used it on me, you'd look just like me?"

Himiko nodded.

"Cooooool." Izuku smiled with his head tilted sideways, resting on the back of his hands.

Himiko spotted some blood on the back of Izuku's leg then looked away. She glanced at it then back up Izuku's still smiling face. "Do you want me to show you?"

"Sure!"

Himiko turned her whole body towards him lowering her knees. "Let me see your leg."

"Hmm?" Izuku took his head off his hands and checked his legs until he found the spot that had a small amount of blood on it. "Oh." He hadn't realized he'd scraped himself during the fight with Bakugo's goons.

He tilted his foot so the back was facing Himiko. She reached out gently swabbed it with her index finger and held it up to her face.

She put the finger in her mouth and smiled. "Sweet."

Himiko caught sight of Izuku patiently staring. "Oh, right." She closed her eyes and focused. When she heard the small gasp from Izuku she figured she was done.

Himiko opened her eyes to Izuku staring at her with wide eyed wonder.

"That's so cool!" Izuku could see that Himiko definitely looked like him down to the messy hair and freckles.

Himiko gave Izuku a bashful smile with his own features.

"How long does it last?" Izuku tapped his knee. "Oh, oh. Can you sound like the other person?"

"Not long because it was a little blood." Himiko spoke to Izuku with his voice.

As if to cement her point she turned back into her normal self with her cat-like eyes, bunned hair, and sharp canines.

"Did it run out?"

Himiko nodded.

Izuku tilted his leg again. "Here, you can take some more."

"Midoriya! You're mom's here! Come back inside!" The voice of an orderly rang from the building.

"Oh, I need to go. You can take some blood first though." Izuku kept his leg tilted towards Himiko until she swabbed another bit of blood from the scrap on the back of his leg.

He got up and backed away as he waved to Himiko. "Bye-bye, I'll talk to you next time."

Himiko waved back. "Next time."

Once Izuku was out of sight she looked at the bit of blood on her finger, popped it in her mouth, and smiled.

A sweet gift from her new friend.


	2. Chapter 2: Here to Stay

"Save me." Himiko called out as she lay on the grass on her side.

"I-I am here!" Izuku bounced excitedly and the ears from his hat flopped down covering his face.

"My hero, yay!" Himiko jumped up to meet Izuku halfway but she tripped, crashing into Izuku knocking both of them to the ground.

The two giggled, ignoring the dirt that got all over their clothes from their tumble.

Himiko smiled at Izuku from where her head rested on his chest.

Izuku took off his hat, finally able to see again. "Your turn," he chirped with a smile.

They stood up and Izuku handed Himiko his green hat. She tugged it on while Izuku rushed to hide behind a seesaw.

Himiko readjusted the hat so the ears didn't flop in her face. "Ok, ready."

Izuku laid down on his side behind the seesaw. He threw a small hand up in the air. "Save me!"

Himiko rushed and jumped over the seesaw landing perfectly and throwing her hands up in the air in victory. "I am here!" The ears on the hat slumped to the sides of her face.

"Toga! Your mother is here!" An orderly motioned for Himiko to go back inside.

"Hmph." Himiko's cheeks puffed as she pouted and took off the hat. She handed it to Izuku once he was standing up again.

"It's okay we can play again tomorrow." Izuku slipped the hat on and it slid down his face forcing him to push it up again.

Himiko tilted her head to the left pouting harder.

"You can be the hero first." Izuku's grin pushed his cheeks up making his freckles look more clustered.

"Okay but you can't forget that. I get to save you first." Himiko's pout gave way to a smile and she took off turning partially to wave a goodbye which Izuku returned.

"See you tomorrow!"

Himiko gave a final nod as she entered the building to see her mother.

"Why are you so filthy? Look at you." Himiko's mother knelt down and dusted off Himiko's clothes. "Did you take any today?"

"Nuh-uh." Himiko's buns stayed in place as she shook her head.

"Open up."

Himiko opened her mouth and her mother gave a quick look over while holding a small handkerchief. Not finding anything of note she nodded put her handkerchief away while Himiko closed her mouth.

Himiko's mother nodded, got up and held out her hand which Himiko took and they left.

Back outside Izuku was playing with the ears of his hat making them flop around.

He felt the hat get snatched from his head and turned around.

Izuku saw Bakugo alone holding his hat.

Izuku took a quick glance back towards the building seeing none of the orderlies nearby. He reached for the hat. "Give it back."

Bakugo backed away keeping the hat out of Izuku's reach with a frown. "Don't think you're so smart avoiding me all week, Deku."

Izuku managed to grab his hat and the two boys were locked in a tug of war.

"Let go."

Bakugo tugged hard on the hat. "No adults for you to hide behind this time."

The boy continued to tug when suddenly there was a rip and both boys stumbled backwards.

Izuku looked down at his hat which was now torn at the top where the base met the ear. Izuku saw Bakugo start to get up and scrambled up himself running back to the building clutching his hat closely.

He ignored Bakugo's angry yells and sat himself down in full view of at least two orderlies. Izuku inspected his hat again. He tentatively touched the ear. Despite being torn he still had the whole hat.

He stashed it away gingerly with his stuff and waited patiently for his mother.

* * *

Inko opened the door to the apartment and ushered Izuku in. He laid his stuff on the couch and watched as his mother trudged along to the kitchen to make dinner.

He peered just out of her way and saw the bags under her eyes were especially noticeable today. Inko yawned frequently as she made dinner, wiping at her eyes every so often.

Izuku looked at the couch then at Inko. He sat down taking out his hat and looking again at the damage. He placed the parts that were torn together so they'd align and the tear disappeared for a moment. It reappeared when he let go and the ear flopped down.

"Izuku? Dinner's ready."

Izuku hid the hat and went to his mother as she set the table.

As they ate Izuku stole a few glances at the sofa.

"Did you see your friend again, Izuku?"

"Himiko? Yeah, we took turns being All Might with my hat." Izuku pointed to his head then realizing his hat wasn't on scrunched his nose.

Inko let out a soft laugh and reached over running her fingers through his hair. She parted his bangs and gave him a kiss on the forehead. She brought her hand down giving him a gentle pinch on one of his chubby cheeks before sitting back in her own chair.

Izuku's eyes darted to the couch.

"Is something wrong, sweetie?" Inko smiled softly.

Izuku looked back at his mother and his gaze stopped on her face. He saw the smile but also the bags under her eyes. Dark and puffy, they weighed down on her eyelids making them droop leaving her with lazy look.

Izuku shook his head and stuffed food into his mouth.

Inko yawned and they finished the rest of their meal quietly.

* * *

Izuku peeked his eyes open. His mother slept peacefully with her arms wrapping him in a snug hug.

He wiggled out of her grasp becoming deadly still when he saw her stir. He slumped off the edge of the bed when he saw her become still again.

His socked feet padded silently against the wooden floor as he made his way to the living room. He got on the couch and pulled his hat out. He looked around the room stopping when he saw a two piece cabinet.

Izuku's eyes locked on the upper left door. It was too high for him to reach on his own. He got off the sofa and waddled to the kitchen pulling a chair back to the living room.

Izuku brought it up next to the cabinet and hopped onto the chair. He planted both hands on the cabinet and crawled onto it. He stood up grabbing onto the cabinet to hold on and looked up at the left door.

He shimmied sideways careful to not slip and reach out with a small hand reaching for the handle.

He clutched at empty air once, twice then grasped the handle on the third time.

Izuku swung the door open letting go of the handle and clutching to the cabinet to not be dragged off with the door.

He stuck his hand inside feeling around. Izuku pulled his hand back out holding a circular blue tin with cookies on the lid.

Using the tin to extend his reach he leaned for the cabinet door and pushed it shut. His head quickly turned back towards the bedroom and he waited a few moments.

Silence was his only response.

He got down from the cabinet and pushed the chair back to the kitchen.

Izuku rushed with the tin back onto the couch where he'd left the hat.

He popped open the lid to reveal a bunch of sewing tools.

Izuku scanned the contents: scissors, needles, some strange cup-like items small enough for fingers.

He stopped when he found a spool of green thread.

He reached in with his left hand.

* * *

Izuku opened his eyes slowly. He was laying down on one side the sofa while Inko sat on the other end.

He watched her hands moving then her right hand pulled up and he saw the needle and thread. Izuku moved and realized he had a blanket draped over himself. He pushed it off with his left hand and hissed. He saw band-aids on the fingers of his left hand and on the thumb of his right hand.

"Oh, you're awake." Inko stopped sewing and turned to Izuku. She had one of the tiny cups on the tip of her middle finger.

Izuku saw in her other hand his hat partially stitched up.

"You tried stitching this up while I was asleep didn't you?"

"I…" Izuku looked down at his hands closing his mouth.

"It's okay." Inko set down the needle and took the mini-cup off her finger. "You're not in trouble." She reached over running her fingers through his hair.

"I just got a little scared. I don't like seeing you hurt." Inko sighed. "I wish you'd asked me first. I don't mind fixing this for you."

"I didn't want to bother you." Izuku looked up at Inko from behind his curls. "I thought if I could fix it by myself you could sleep."

Inko pulled him in close hugging him to her side. "I'll tell you what. I'll teach you so you'll know how to do this on your own but anytime it seems like too much you ask me first okay?"

Izuku nodded against her side.

Inko patted his head gently then reached back for her sewing tools. "Do you know what this is?"

"Finger cups?"

Inko smiled fondly. "It's a thimble. It's to protect your finger when you push the needle." She placed the thimble on her middle finger. "And you don't push with your thumb." She glanced at the band-aid on his right thumb.

Inko used the blue tin as a surface to place the hat and put the eye of the needle against the small spaces in the thimble.

Izuku watched patiently as she worked and fixed his hat. Rather than noticing her speed Izuku paid attention to she maintained consistency as she stitched the hat back up.

Inko pulled out a pair of scissors from the tin and cut the thread once she was done. She put everything back in the tin and held up Izuku's hat.

Aside from the single stitch line along the base of the ear the hat looked good as new.

Inko placed it on Izuku's head and the ears flopped down hugging his cheeks.

The first few rays of sunshine poked in from outside and illuminated a clump of dirt on his red shoes that sat at the foot of the sofa.

Inko brought her arm around Izuku giving him a quick side hug.

"We can practice with something besides your hat later but for now how about we have breakfast?" She looked down giving him a questioning smile.

Izuku peered up at her. His eyes shined brightly, making his hat look dull by comparison and he nodded.

* * *

Izuku reached over to his right for a blue crayon. He began coloring in his drawing ignoring the other kids in the daycare, even the ones near him that were also drawing.

A door opened and Izuku's head snapped towards it flopping one of his hat's ears into his face. He wrinkled his nose and nudged the ear out of the way so he could see who had just entered.

It was one of the other kids being dropped off at the daycare. The boy rushed to meet a group of two other boys and a girl and they quickly went to the outdoor play area.

Izuku looked down at his drawing and ran his thumb across one end of his crayon, the band-aid scraping quietly against the flat end.

Outside he heard some of the other kids giggling.

A door opened and Izuku's head snapped towards it once again.

The bunny ear hit him again this time getting in my mouth. He sputtered it out and his face lit up when he saw Himiko walk in followed by one of the orderlies.

She trudged halfway into the room and sat down on the hero theme carpet at the edge of the group of kids drawing.

Himiko tucked her knees in hugging them. Izuku watched with mild confusion as the orderly gently nudged Himiko's shoulder.

Himiko shook her head saying something to the orderly that Izuku couldn't hear from his spot and the orderly left her alone.

As the orderly moved to keep an eye on the rest of the children drawing Izuku got up and walked over to Himiko.

He sat down next to her tilting his head to see her face. "Himiko?"

He saw that her eyes were red and misty.

Himiko wiped her eyes but they immediately became misty again.

"What's wrong?" Izuku placed a hand on her shoulder.

Himiko sat still for a moment sniffling before looking at Izuku.

"I'm moving away...in a week." Another sniffle and she rested her chin on the back of her hands. "I don't want to move. It's going to be somewhere new and I'm not going to know anyone."

"I don't really know anyone here either but…" she cast a sideways glance at Izuku, "...at least here I have my best friend."

Himiko's eye filled up and Izuku felt his own get watery as well. He didn't know what to say.

Instead he stood up and looked at his drawing while balling and opening his hands.

He quickly went over and picked up his drawing, some crayons and more paper.

Izuku plopped down next to Himiko and handed her a sheet of paper.

She eyed him curiously as she took the paper in one hand.

Izuku showed her his drawing, a version of himself in an All Might costume partly colored in.

"L-Let's draw what we'll be like as heroes."

"It doesn't matter." A tear fell from Himiko's eye splashing onto her sheet of paper. "We're not going to be around each other that long. All I have is one lousy week."

"Then we'll just have to make it the best week ever." Izuku put his hat on Himiko's head pulling it gently down so the ears hugged her face. "Right, best friend?" He offered her the brightest smile he could muster.

More tears fell down Himiko's face. She nodded and wiped her eyes making sure to avoid getting tears on the hat's ears.

* * *

Inko walked inside the daycare gazing across at the few children that still remained in the afternoon.

She smiled when she saw Izuku.

He was asleep sitting down shoulder to shoulder with Himiko, their heads leaning against each other. Himiko still had Izuku's hat on.

Inko walked closer and bent down to look at the drawings at their feet.

One was of Izuku dressed up as All Might, a blue suit with a yellow hoodie like the onesies she'd seen in stores. She could tell it was still supposed to be Izuku because of the green eyes and freckles on the drawing's face.

She looked at another drawing. This one was similarly dressed but the outfit was the same shade as Izuku's hat making it look like a green bunny costume. Going by the bits of blonde hair poking from under the hood this was supposed to be Himiko.

The drawing was smiling, baring vampire-like fangs.

Inko was about to look at some of the other drawings when Himiko stirred.

Himiko slowly opened her eyes and looked at Inko in confusion.

"Hello. Himiko right?"

"How do you know my name?" Himiko blinked sleepily.

Inko's smile became more gentle. "Izuku talks about you often."

Himiko turned to see Izuku still leaning against her asleep.

"Here, I'll take him off your hands." Inko reached out with her right arm.

Hiniko caught sight of Inko's left arm wrapped up in a cast and sling. "Your arm. Are you okay?"

Inko picked Izuku up with just her right arm and Izuku laid his sleeping head against Inko's shoulder. "It's fine, just a little accident at work."

Himiko blinked. "Oh." Her hand hand touched one of the hats floppy ears. "His hat."

She took it off and offered it to Inko.

Inko bent down and leaned towards Himiko who placed the hat on Izuku's head. The only response he gave was to nuzzle further into Inko's shoulder.

"Thank you." Inko stood up making sure she had a proper hold of Izuku. "Goodbye, Himiko."

"Bye-bye, Mrs. Midoriya."

Inko turned around and headed for the exit.

"Bye-bye, best friend." Himiko's voice was quiet as she watched Izuku's sleeping face.

Inko, hearing this tried to move her hand to rub Izuku's back before remembering her arm was in a sling.

She looked at her arm as if it had betrayed her and opted instead to place a kiss on Izuku's cheek.

Izuku's tiny hands clutched onto Inko's hero costume as he mumbled sleepily into her shoulder.

An orderly led Inko back outside and she gave a quick nod and thanks before leaving.

She managed to make it to the train station just on time soon the pair were on their way home.

Inko sat next to a window still carrying a sleeping Izuku. Neither the other passengers nor the sway of the train seemed to bother him.

Inko nudged one of the floppy ears out of the way with her nose so she could better see his face.

His face remained peaceful as he held onto Inko, his cheek smushed against her shoulder making his face look even chubbier than the baby fat did.

She gently leaned her head against his and hummed softly. Izuku murmured back in tune to her humming.

A small head poked up from the seat in front of Inko. It was a small girl peering at Inko from behind the seat. Next to the girl sat an older woman, likely her grandmother.

The girl stared with large eyes as Inko hummed.

The train hit two stops and the girl kept staring.

Inko offered a warm smile and the girl smiled back revealing her baby teeth.

This time when Inko hummed the girl hummed as well only after Inko leading to the girl and Izuku both responding to Inko at the same time.

Inko hummed and the young duo responded, despite one of them still being asleep.

Inko hummed again but this time stopped halfway with the girl stopping as well but Izuku still murmuring in his sleep.

Inko glanced at Izuku then at the girl who snickered.

Inko smiled and hummed again, her two singing partners following suit for two more stations.

On the next stop the older woman got up and held out her hand which the young girl took. As they got to the doors the girl waved at Inko with another full toothed smiled.

Inko waved back with the bundled up mess that was her left arm at the moment and watched the girl and woman leave.

The doors closed and Inko's ears perked up at the sound of the next stop. Making sure she had a proper hold of Izuku she got up and placed herself just by the doors.

The station was close enough that Inko only needed to travel a few minutes while carrying Izuku.

Upon reaching her apartment Inko scrunched her nose at her left arm. It took some use of her quirk and a little maneuvering but she managed to get the door open without dropping Izuku.

She stepped inside and used her quirk again pulling the keys out of the doorknob then closed the door with her foot.

She walked over to the sofa and tried to set Izuku down but the boy held on with his tiny little hands.

She tried again and his little fingers dug into the fabric of her costume. He murmured something in his sleep and dug his head further into her shoulder.

Inko gave up and just sat down on the couch while holding the boy.

She looked down at his hands, the left still covered in bandaids with the right only having the one on the thumb.

Inko moved her hand and felt him clutch harder. She brought her right hand onto his back gently rubbing it and Izuku's grip loosened.

The only thing she heard in the apartment was the sound of his breathing, light and calm as long as he held onto her.

She moved her head to look upwards and closed her eyes.

She let herself enjoy the moment, feeling the warmth from Izuku's small body as he clung to her in a hug.

She moved her right arm to more properly hug him and leaned her head against his, hoping to return some of that warmth.

"mm." Izuku stirred and slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry about waking you." Inko cooed and looked down to see him try and blink the drowsiness from his eyes.

Izuku rubbed his eyes with his left hand and his face changed into a soft and sleepy smile as he registered Inko's presence.

He stopped leaning against her and stood on his own as he gradually woke up fully.

Inko let go of him and Izuku yawned stretching the freckles on his cheeks.

Inko wiped the small tears from Izuku's eyes after that yawn.

He blinked more and he caught sight of her left arm.

Inko saw his eyes tear up and his lip tremble.

"Hey, it's okay. It's nothing serious."

That didn't stop the full on tackle of a hug Izuku gave her.

He wrapped his arms as tightly as he could around her giving no chance of peeling him off.

"Izuku, loosen your grip."

He shook his head.

"Izuku please you're going to hurt your fingers. They're not healed up yet."

"You're hurt more." His face was buried into her side, the tears rolling off his face and onto her costume.

"Izuku, it's okay. It's just my arm it's nothing too dangerous. I promise I'm alright." She reached his one of his hands.

Izuku kept his grip tight. "It's n-not ok-kay. You got hurt because I didn't let you sleep." He ignored the light stinging in the fingers on his left hand.

"Izuku." Her voice was soft and understanding. "That's not what happened. I just got hurt because I saved someone at work that's it. It would have happened whether or not I stopped to fix your hat. It's not your fault."

Izuku's grip slacked a little and he looked at Inko, still dripping tears from his eyes.

"I need you to understand this." Inko brought her hand up, using the back of her finger to delicately wipe tears from his eyes. "That wasn't your fault. Sometimes bad things happen and it isn't anyone's fault."

It required immense willpower for her to not also start crying. Seeing him so distraught hurt her far worse than the injury to her arm ever could.

"A-And…" She cleared her throat. "And sometimes I can get hurt on the job just like you did when you tried stitching but that's okay. We'll both learn and we'll both be safer for it."

"What if...what if you get hurt worse?"

"Izuku, what do you think is going to happen?"

"You'll leave."

"I won't."

"You'll get hurt worse, way worse and you'll…"

He didn't need to finish that thought.

"Izuku, that won't happen and there's no way that I'll lea-"

"H-Himiko's leav-ving." He sniffled. "She's m-moving aw-way. S-She's my o-only f-f-friend and she's leav-ving."

His small frame shuddered.

"A-And D-D-dad…"

"Izuku…" Inko couldn't hold it anymore. Tears ran down her face as well.

"A-And...if y-you...ge-et h-hurt...t-t-too much…you'll...you-u'll…" By this time he was crying and hiccuping more than he was talking.

On the verge of outright wailing he stared at her with eyes too full of tears to be of any use to his sight and choked out his only plea.

"D-Don't...leave...me."

Inko didn't think. There was no need to.

Her arm wrapped around Izuku and hugged him tightly to herself.

He was her son, her baby boy, the single most beautiful thing in her life and here he was in such pain.

He sobbed into her bosom and she let him. Whatever he needed she swore to find a way to give him.

His small hands reaffirmed their grip on her as he held on as if letting go even for a moment would result in her disappearing.

She took his hat off and sank her fingers into the soft mass of hair and pulled him even closer. She kissed the top of his head again and again. Any measure of comfort, assurance and love she would give to him without a moment of hesitation.

The cascade of tears falling from her face did absolutely nothing to blind Inko's love for her son.

"I am not going to leave you. As long as you want me to...as long as you need me to, I'll stay."

Izuku said nothing but nodded slightly and the two bawled what remained of their eyes out.

It was a long hour spent in each other's arms and it left both of them exhausted.

The mixture of letting everything out and following fatigue managed to calm both of them down.

It also brought hunger and Inko cooked with Izuku holding on to her leg as opposed to her side so that she could have her arm free.

When the two sat down to eat they did so with Izuku in Inko's lap. It made eating more tedious but neither of them tried to change the arrangement.

After eating the two sat down again on the sofa in another hug, this one a much calmer and more quiet.

Izuku fingers held tightly to her costume and they ached.

"Don't hold so hard with your left. You'll hurt your fingers again." Inko brought her hand up and soothingly rubbed the back of his.

The grip from his left hand loosened.

Inko's hand moved to the back of his head and she gently stroked his hair.

"Izuku?"

Izuku gazed at her and blinked slowly, the weariness threatening to keep his eyes closed.

"About the person I saved today. I was thinking of having a surprise but I think it's better if I ask you first."

Izuku listened patiently.

"They work at a place for toys of all types and they wanted to do me a favor. They could get me one of their most popular ones, a plushie of whatever design you want."

"We could get you an All Might plushie if you want." She kissed his forehead when he shook his head. "Or we could get you a mini version of me. You can hug it whenever you're worried and know that I'm right here with you. Would you want that?"

Izuku shook his head again and laid it against Inko. "Just you...real you…" The drowsiness finally took hold and he fell asleep hugging her.

She continued stroking his hair listening to his quiet breathing. She let a few minutes pass and then slowly got up while holding him.

She checked and he was still asleep. Inko walked over to the bedroom and tried setting him down but he was clung to her like a baby koala.

She decided to get into bed first then used her quirk to pull the covers towards them. She managed to get the covers most of the way over them and then wiggle Izuku and herself further in.

She hugged Izuku closer to herself pressing her forehead lightly against his and closed her eyes, a peaceful smile on her face.

Hours later Izuku stirred and his eyes snapped open. He saw nothing in the dark but felt a snug warmth enveloping him.

He blinked and blinked but still saw nothing. He touched in front of him and felt a warm body, it's frame shifting back and forth as it breathed.

Izuku closed his eyes and counted to ten. He opened them and the room slowly came back into focus.

Inko's form materialized out of the darkness slowly. It's what his eyes told him but the warmth surrounding him told him that she had never disappeared to begin with.

He needed proof so he closed his eyes. When he opened them there she was. He did this again and again each time he felt a fading fear that she would be gone when he opened his eyes.

He checked and double checked and triple checked and checked to numbers that he didn't know yet and the result was the same.

No matter how many times he looked, she stayed.

Izuku's lip trembled and he felt a smile wash over his face. He leaned forward, kissed her cheek and snuggled further into her arms.

He then closed his eyes not needing to check anymore because he knew that she would stay.


	3. Chapter 3: Hello, Goodbye

(1)

"Are you sure you're okay with waiting here?" Inko looked down at Izuku who was clinging to her leg.

Izuku let go and took a step away from her. He closed his eyes for a moment then opened them and looked into her eyes.

He nodded.

She knelt down and hugged him with one arm, her left still in a cast and sling.

"Okay, but if you need me just ask one of the orderlies to call me okay?"

"Mmhm." Izuku hugged back before quietly adding, "Love you, mommy."

"Love you too, sweetie." She placed a kiss on his forehead and the two separated.

Izuku patiently watched her leave. Her turned around and saw that Himiko was not at the daycare yet.

He scampered off towards the crayons and was soon sitting down drawing something.

He nearly finished coloring in the drawing but sleep took a hold of him.

Izuku didn't know for how long he slept. All he knew was that something was tapping his face.

A quick flurry of gentle taps landed on his face and he opened his eyes.

Next to him was Himiko holding a small black cat by the front paws.

He blinked.

She tapped him again.

"Himiko?"

Himiko smiled. "I met a new friend for us."

At this the cat meowed.

"Shh, you're gonna get us caught." She put a hand over the cat's mouth.

Her lips wiggled as she tried to hold back laughter. She pulled her hand away from the cat's mouth to reveal the cat licking her hand.

Izuku glanced towards the orderly inside, a young woman only half hazardly casting a glance at the kids between reading something on a tablet.

"Where did you find it?"

"An alleyway. I gave her some food yesterday and she was following me around for a while. She didn't have a collar on her so my mom named her Bastet."

Bastet meowed in agreement tilting her head to look up at Himiko.

"We can't keep her because we're moving but I think she's okay on her own. My mom said Bastet's a stray and stray cats can take care of themselves."

Izuku extended his right hand to try and pet Bastet. He froze when she leaned her head forward and sniffed at his fingers.

Bastet seemed uninterested and wiggled out of Himiko's grasp then plopped into her lap.

The orderlies called the kids over for mealtime and Himiko quickly pushed Bastet off her lap.

Bastet wrinkled her nose in displeasure.

"Go hide, Bastet. If they see you they might throw you out."

At that Bastet quickly padded away and hid under a table. As she did Izuku saw that her feet were rather short making her look like a kitten.

Izuku and Himiko joined the mass of kids swarming the orderlies for food and snacks.

They got their sandwiches, juice boxes and cheese crackers.

The duo sat down near the table with Bastet while most of the other kids either sat by the orderlies or went outside with their food.

Himiko dug hungrily into her sandwich while Izuku nibbled on his, watching as Bastet poked her head out from under the short table.

Izuku looked at Bastet, then his sandwich, then Himiko. "Can cats eat sandwiches?"

Himiko stared at him with full cheeks. She took a moment to chew and swallow the chunk she'd bitten off before answering.

"I don't know. I tried giving her chocolate yesterday but she didn't want any."

Bastet craned her neck pointing her nose in Izuku's direction with mild curiosity.

Izuku broke a small piece of his sandwich off and held it out for her.

Bastet simply blinked at him as if the very idea of feeding her a sandwich was ridiculous to her.

Izuku ate the piece himself and opened his small packet of cheese crackers. He held one out for Bastet and this time she slowly edged towards him sniffing.

She took a few moments sniffing the cracker then took it from his hand and ate it.

Finishing it quickly she poked her head towards Izuku sniffing for more. Izuku offered another cracker and Bastet gladly devoured it.

She looked back up at him expectantly.

Izuku poured the rest of the crackers into his right hand and held it out for her.

Bastet ate from his hand while Izuku ate his sandwich and Himiko watched the two curiously.

Bastet finished off the crackers gently poking around his hand for more.

"I guess she likes cheese." Izuku finished his sandwich and reached for his juice-box with his left hand.

Bastet then began rubbing her head against his hand. She purred and tilted her head to rub the top of it against his hand.

Himiko gulped down her juice. "Or maybe she just likes you."

Bastet purred as if to answer them.

Izuku held up his juice-box with his left hand and awkwardly looked between it and Bastet.

"Here." Himiko opened it for him.

"Thank you."

Bastet then hopped into his lap rubbing her head and shoulders against Izuku while purring.

Izuku had to raise his left hand to get keep his juice-box out of her way. He petted her with his right hand and she tilted her head leaning her ears in his direction.

He scratched behind her ears and she sat down down curling up fully on his lap purring even more loudly than before.

On the other side of the room they heard Bakugo's voice full of pride.

"What? You guys couldn't do that? It's super easy."

Himiko glanced in his direction and saw a circle gathered around Bakugo looking at him in awe.

Even one of the orderlies seemed to be paying attention and supporting Bakugo.

Bastet meowed.

"Kitty!" One of the kids near Himiko and Izuku pointed at Bastet with a small hop in their step.

Quickly the other children caught wind of Bastet sitting snugly on Izuku's lap and wandered over to get a look at her.

Everyone from the kids surrounding Bakugo to the orderlies came over to see what the commotion was about. Bakugo scrunched up his nose when everyone around him left him mid story to go see what was going on.

Bastet meowed again swaying her tail. She clearly enjoyed the attention.

"What's everyone getting carried away for? It's just a stupid cat." Bakugo set off a few small explosions to get people's attention but nothing could top the charisma of a purring cat.

"She's not stupid, she's cute." Himiko reached over and scratched behind Bastet's other ear.

One of the orderlies held her chin in her hand. "How did she get in?"

Himiko and Izuku shared a quick look before Himiko came up with something.

"She must have sneaked in I guess." Himiko rubbed Bastet's ear between her thumb and index finger. "Can she stay? Please?"

"Well I don't know, we're not really supposed to let animals or pets of any kind inside."

Bastet looked up at the orderly, her pupils dilating making her eyes look huge.

'Awws' and 'oohs' erupted from the children and Bastet let out a very soft meow aimed straight at the orderly.

The look on the orderly's face made it clear she was won over. "Okay, okay she can stay. Just be careful, all of you. Don't scare her otherwise she might scratch you."

The children all cheered except for Bakugo and Bastet raised her head closing her eyes as if pleased with being accepted.

The children then took turns petting Bastet. She let all of the kids near her but refused to sit in anyone else's lap aside from Izuku's and only rubbed against Himiko and Izuku.

One of the kids picked her up and put her in their lap.

Bastet didn't lash out and instead just got up, walked over to Izuku's lap and sat down again.

Bakugo grumbled to himself about all the attention some random stray cat was getting as opposed to how much he _should _be getting.

One of the kids held out their hand with their palm facing towards Bastet. She gave what was essentially the cat equivalent of a high five and the kids got excited.

They took turns trying to play a makeshift version of patty cake with her. It only half worked. Bastet sometimes tapped someone's palm with both paws instead of just one and she gradually became bored refusing to paw anyone's hands after a while.

Deciding that this was all for now she got up, rubbed against Izuku's shirt then curled up into a ball and closed her eyes.

A few kids tried petting her again but she kept her eyes closed and soon the only movement they saw from her was her body rising as she breathed in and out.

Now that the cat was asleep most of the kids decided to stop bothering her and instead talked amongst each other or drew but they made sure to stay nearby just in case Bastet woke up again.

Himiko brought over Izuku's drawing as well as some paper so she could draw something herself.

Izuku had to awkwardly draw to his side or lean a little so as to not disturb Bastet.

It didn't take him long to finish his drawing and he soon wiggled his way so that his back was against a beanbag near the table.

Himiko scooted next to him and the two just sat there petting Bastet's sleeping form.

Izuku felt his eyelids become heavier and heavier.

His mother hadn't returned yet but he closed his eyes, completely sure that the next time he opened them she'd be right in front of him.

As Izuku and Himiko gave in to sleep they slumped, leaning into each other. They were shoulder to shoulder and head to head just like the day before.

The right bunny ear on Izuku's hat was diagonally propped up against the top of Himiko's head making it look like Izuku was keeping an ear out for something.

Bakugo sulked about Bastet still getting attention even when she was asleep when he came up with an idea.

Bastet woke up shortly after. She stretched and looked around seeing that both Izuku and Himiko were asleep. Her gaze fell on Izuku's bunny ear and she got up from his lap.

Bakugo wandered over as Bastet jumped to the beanbag then the top of the table.

She took a gentle swipe at Izuku's bunny ear, missing because of her short paws.

Bakugo tip-toed until he was right behind Bastet.

She leaned forward stretching to swipe at the bunny ear.

"BOO!" Bakugo set off some small explosions with his yell to try and startle Bastet.

The cat stopped, glanced at him for a moment, blinked then went back to swiping at Izuku's hat.

The other kids looked over at what the commotion was.

"Bakugo, don't startle the cat. She'll scratch you." An orderly watching scolded the blond but didn't get up from her beanbag.

Bastet managed to swipe the tip of Izuku's bunny ear once.

Bakugo was livid. He couldn't believe that this dumb cat was first, hogging all of the attention and second not giving him the attention he deserved when he offered her some.

His fingers wriggled, anxiously awaiting another chance to ignite.

He knew what to do. He was going to show this stupid, short cat that he was the top dog around here and that no one was allowed to steal his thunder, not even a pet.

He was going to be the best at everything so he couldn't afford any competition.

Bakugo put his hands against Bastet's side and pushed.

Bastet lost her balance and scrambled to stay on the table.

Bakugo pushed again and again trying to force her off.

She growled at him, her pupils constricting to make it look like they were slits.

"Bakugo stop bothering the cat." The orderly was up now heading for the cat and the blond.

Bastet hissed, baring her teeth in warning for Bakugo to stop.

He huffed, pulling his hands away.

The orderly slowed down believing that it would stop there.

Suddenly Bakugo swiped with an open palm, sparks beginning to ignite.

Before his hand was even half way there Bastet small paw swiped forward catching the back of his index finger and then pulling back just as quickly.

Bakugo's trajectory was thrown off and he completely missed Bastet with his explosion. Feeling a sudden rush of pain on his finger he looked at it to find blood seeping in a line from his index finger.

Bastet yowled and got on her hind legs, making herself as tall as she could. The claws on her front paws were out in the open. She stepped from one hind leg to the other waiting for another swipe from Bakugo.

Bakugo finally backed away nursing his index finger as the orderly rushed to his side to take him away from Bastet.

As Bakugo left Bastet began calming down, first retracting her claws then lowering down to a soft growl and finally dropping down to four legs.

"Okay that's it we cannot keep you inside here." Another orderly, this one a man, came over and tried to shoe Bastet away.

She looked between the orderly, Bakugo and Izuku's and Himiko's sleeping forms.

The orderly tried again and this time she let herself be shooed out.

The other children whined about Bastet being chased out but the orderly was firm about his decision.

During the commotion either Izuku or Himiko or both had moved because they were now holding hands as they slept leaning against each other.

The orderly made sure the kids were cleaning up after themselves before joining his coworker to check on Bakugo.

Someone threw a crayon. Someone else threw a piece of sandwich in retaliation. A few of the kids got up and headed outside leaving the door open.

Not even a minute later Bastet's head poked in through the open door. Seeing the orderlies busy she snuck in, her paws padding silently and she moved between the kids.

The kids shushed each other as she passed by and they gave her quick pets.

She ignored them and made a beeline for Izuku. She got onto his lap and plopped down, reclaiming her rightful place.

Not long after, Inko arrived and was greeted by the male orderly. He led her to where Izuku was.

Inko's heart swelled when she saw Izuku sleeping peacefully with Himiko. She saw that they were holding hands and almost did a double take when she saw the cat sleeping soundly on Izuku's lap.

"Ah, dammit how'd she get back in." The orderly started going for the cat.

"Hold on a moment. I need a picture."

"Yeah just wait till I get rid of the cat first." He tried to wave her interjection away.

Inko's right hand clapped his shoulder. "I believe I said 'hold on a moment' didn't I, young man?"

"Y-Yes ma'am." The orderly looked down avoiding her gaze. His cheeks burned with humiliation at being scolded like one of the children.

He stood there dumbly while Inko got a picture of Izuku, Himiko and Bastet.

Inko then knelt down and Bastet woke up eyeing the mother curiously.

"Now who might you be?" Inko reached forward with her index finger.

Bastet stretched her paws and tapped Inko's finger. She then meowed an answer.

Inko brought forward her left hand which was no longer in a sling or a cast and was now only in bandages.

Bastet sniffed it, keeping her eyes on Inko's face before ignoring her left hand and going back to tapping Inko's index finger.

Inko caught sight of Izuku's drawing and took her hand away from Bastet to reach for it.

When she did Bastet put her paws down on the drawing stopping Inko from pulling it away.

Inko brought her right hand above Bastet's head and the cat grabbed fingers between her paws.

Inko then snuck under with her bandaged hand and pulled the drawing away while Bastet was distracted.

The drawing was of Izuku in his bunny hat holding hands with Inko who wore her green hero costume.

Inko's cheeks rose as a smile formed on her face. "Could you get me the other drawing he made yesterday?"

The orderly nodded and wandered off.

Izuku stirred and Inko set the drawing down. She took her hand away from Bastet and the cat got out of Izuku's lap trying to follow it.

Izuku's eyes opened slowly and it took a moment for him to register Inko.

When he did, he shot up instantly and jumped into her arms with a hug. "I knew you'd come back."

"Always." Inko whispered and wrapped her arms around him, returning the hug.

Bastet went over to Himiko and tapped her face with a paw. Himiko only stirred but didn't wake up so Bastet used both paws.

Himiko swiped away the paws as she awoke. She saw Inko hugging Izuku, an orderly dropping a drawing for Inko and Bastet's face poking into view.

Himiko mimicked the mother-son duo and hugged Bastet who wiggled around in Himiko's grasp so she could see while being held.

Izuku and Inko ended their hug and gave Himiko and Bastet their goodbyes.

Himiko held Bastet's paws so that Izuku received a goodbye wave from both of them.

Himiko watched them leave hand in hand. Izuku's smile was so bright she felt like she was absorbing some of that and hugged Bastet closer to herself.

When Izuku and Inko were gone the orderly came over to lead Bastet outside. Himiko held onto Bastet but walked behind the orderly leaving the cat half walking on her hind legs to keep up.

Himiko leaned in and whispered in Bastet's ear, "we're sneaking you back in."

Bastet meowed in agreement.

* * *

(2)

The next day Himiko sat on the beanbag alone. She'd been dropped off earlier that day and had yet to see any sight of either Izuku or Bastet.

She laid down on the beanbag and stared at the ceiling, arms spread out. She only had a few more days before she moved and the lack of either of her friends made it that much more noticeable how lonely it would be.

Himiko heard the main door open and close then open and close again a few moments later. She didn't get up and continued to stare up at the ceiling, hearing one of the side doors open.

She heard rapid footsteps as someone came rushing towards her. Himiko got up to see who was running but was immediately tackle hugged back onto the beanbag as a familiar voice cried out.

"Himi!"

Himiko found herself staring back up at the ceiling, except this time part of her vision was obstructed by a green cloth ear.

She looked down and the ear flopped out of the way as Izuku looked up at her.

"You're here early." His freckles stretched as he smiled so brightly even his eyes shone.

It was contagious and Himiko found herself smiling back as she nodded, returning the hug.

That empty feeling, that loneliness she felt earlier seeped away and was replaced with a warm fuzzy feeling.

This was almost perfect. She was only missing one thing.

As if on que Bastet's head poked into view.

"Bachan!" Himiko face was promptly covered as Bastet tried to lay on her.

Himiko had to stop hugging Izuku to get Bastet off her face.

"Bachan?" Izuku got up and watched as Himiko sat up placing Bastet in her lap.

"Yeah, you called me Himi so I thought she should get a cute nickname too." She looked down at the cat. "Do you think Bachan is cute enough?"

Bastet meowed and grabbed Himiko's cheeks with her paws.

"Well that settles it, you're Bachan now." Himiko spoke with puffy cheeks.

"Hey, you two. If you want to play with the cat you have to do it outside." The orderly motioned to a side door that was open.

The duo walked outside with Bastet between them.

"You need a nickname too. How about Zuku? What do you think Bachan?"

Bastet gave no reaction.

Himiko tried again. "What about Zuzu?"

"But my name only has one Z."

"But Zuzu is cuter."

Bastet meowed.

"See, Bachan thinks so too." Finishing her thought Himiko tripped as Bastet walked in front of her. "Bachan don't. What if I fall on you?"

Bastet meowed again and rubbed against Himiko purring.

Izuku knelt down to pet Bastet and caught sight of Bakugo in the distance giving them the stink eye while he rubbed his index finger that had a bandaid on it.

Himiko followed Izuku's gaze before getting up and grabbing Bastet's paws to tap him on the hat. "Forget about Kacchan and let's play with Bachan."

Bastet wiggled out of Himiko grasp and wandered off. The two kids followed her to the seesaw.

"You want to play on this, Bachan?" Himiko sat down on one end making the other rise up.

Bastet hopped onto the other side and went it didn't budge she jumped and pounced on it paws first.

Izuku picked her up and sat down on that side bringing it further down and raising the other side with their combined weight.

"No fair, you're teaming." Himiko pouted and crossed her arms.

Izuku set Bastet down on the seesaw and she walked to the middle sitting down and looking between the two of them.

"Now it's even." Izuku put his hands on the small handle in front of his seat. Himiko uncrossed her arms and did the same.

They played on it but every so often Bastet would walk towards one of their sides and paw at their hands.

Suddenly Bastet stood, holding her head upright away from Izuku and Himiko.

She stalked away and the two stopped to watch her.

They saw that she was sneaking towards a small black bird sitting on the fence all puffed up.

The duo didn't see what she did afterwards as they were interrupted by an angry Bakugo.

"You're stupid cat scratched me."

Izuku looked up at him in confusion. "I don't remember that, and she's not stupid she's very smart."

Bakugo huffed. "Whatever, I bet you told her to scratch me as payback didn't you? Can't beat me on your own so you go and cry for help." He shoved Izuku off the seesaw throwing the smaller boy to the ground.

Himiko immediately stepped in between the two. "Leave him alone. Besides everyone needs help sometimes."

"All Might doesn't." The smugness emanating from Bakugo was palpable. "He doesn't need anyone's help. He can deal with everything by himself that's why he's the best, cause he's strong enough."

Distracted with Bakugo neither Izuku nor Himiko saw Bastet dipping her paws into a small puddle of water before rushing off back inside the daycare.

"But All Might does get help, he works with a lot of heroes." Izuku sat up slowly, keeping an eye on Bakugo's hands.

"But he doesn't _need _to. Just like I don't need to." Bakugo pointed a thumb right at his chest. "You two losers are always teaming up but me, I don't need those two extras with me everytime."

"More like they don't want to hang around a big jerk all the time." Himiko's fists were balled up at her side. "You're so mean even the kittens don't like you."

"Whatever losers, everyone already knows I'm the be-"

Bakugo was interrupted by the door leading outside being opened suddenly with the male orderly holding Bastet with two hands, paw shaped mud prints on his face and body.

"Okay, for the last time. Who let the cat in?"

Himiko pointed at Bakugo.

"What? No!"

The orderly set Bastet down and stomped over to Bakugo. "First you stir the cat up enough for it to attack you then you let her inside and make a mess. Come on we're calling your mom."

Bakugo tried protesting but to no avail. The encounter with Inko must have rubbed off on the orderly because he stayed firm and Bakugo soon realized that arguing would not save him.

The orderly walked Bakugo back inside and Bastet rushed over to Izuku rubbing her head and side against Izuku's arm purring loud enough for both he and Himiko to hear it.

Himiko grabbed Bastet lifting and hugging her from behind.

"Zuzu was right, you're so smart Bachan."

Bastet looked up at Himiko and grabbed her cheeks with wet muddy paws.

"Ew! Bachan!"

* * *

(3)

Himiko raised a palm. Bastet touched it with her paw. Himiko raised the other palm and Bastet matched that one with her paw.

The blonde tilted her head and so did Bastet.

Himiko stuck out her tongue.

Bastet stuck hers out peering at Himiko with large yellow eyes.

Himiko tucked her tongue back and leaned down pressing her nose against Bastet's. She cupped the cat's cheeks with her hands.

Bastet licked her nose.

Himiko giggled as she backed away, wiping at the tip of her nose.

She glanced over to see Izuku staring at a kid rushing to their father.

"Izuku?" Himiko wandered over to his side.

Izuku sat there on the floor and stared, not saying anything.

Himiko didn't like the look on his face. He looked how she felt every time she thought about the move in a few days.

It was a draining and cold feeling. She had only one solution for it, the same way Izuku helped her feel better.

Himiko sat down next to him and hugged him. Bastet must have understood because she snuggled up on his free side.

Izuku blinked and looked to the two at his sides. Their warmth had thawed him out of that cold, lonely trance. He looked down at his lap, a grateful smile spreading across his face. He hugged them back pulling Bastet further into his side and Himiko's cheek against his own.

Izuku closed his eyes, reveling in that comfort. Whether that hug lasted seconds or minutes didn't matter, it made him feel better all the same.

He opened his eyes and the hug ended but Himiko took his hand and helped him up. She led him outside, the heat from her grasp enveloping his right hand and Bastet's tail grazing against Izuku's left hand as she followed them.

As they left the male orderly shook his head muttering, "if that cat sneaks back in I give up."

"Oh, it's not that big of a deal as long as they don't spook her." Another orderly looked up from watching Bakugo draw right in front of her.

The blond scowled at the trio leaving outside. His hands squirmed with the urge to let off an explosion. He couldn't even go after them. The mud incident from the day before had gotten him in enough trouble to be watched at least for today.

Once outside Himiko spotted one of the balls not being used and lead Izuku that way. As they walked some of the other children called out to Bastet.

"C'mere kitty." One tried getting her attention with shushing sounds.

"Here, girl." Another tried and failed to whistle.

Someone tossed a piece of a sandwich that flopped in front of Bastet making her stop. She leaned in sniffing it. She smacked it once then twice with her paw. With no reaction from the sandwich she decided to rush back to Izuku's side as he and Himiko reached the ball.

The duo had hardly managed to pass the ball to each other for a few turns before another ball flew past them, managing to miss both of them though it was close.

Izuku turned to where the ball had come from, a group of kids watching them with envy. At the front of that group one of Bakugo's cronies, Tsubasa the boy with wings, threw another ball.

It was headed straight for Himiko who had yet to face the group. Izuku held their ball in his hand and intercepted the thrown ball, covering Himiko but losing his balance and falling.

Himiko now fully aware of where balls were coming from turned and yelled at the group. "Stop throwing stuff at us!"

"Stop hogging the cat!" Tsubasa flew and landed in front of them as the rest of the group followed.

Bastet hissed baring her teeth and claws. She stood between Himiko and the winged boy.

"We're not hogging her. She just doesn't want to hang out with a bunch of jerks."

"Look she's got teeth just like the cat." One of the boys from the group pointed at Himiko's fangs.

"No, you idiot. The cat has fangs like she does." When everyone looked at Tsubasa like a lunatic he added, "Kacchan called her a vampire so that means her fangs are normally like that. That means she made the cat's teeth the same way."

"Vampire cat." whispered one of the boys.

"She's not a vampire." Izuku stood up readjusting his bunny hat, the ball he was using at his feet.

"Yeah she is. And she made the cat one too but she didn't make you one cause not even vampires like quirkless losers." Tsubasa puffed his chest out trying to make himself seem bigger.

Izuku balled up his fists at his sides shaking slightly. "Well if she's a vampire then you're a demon with those big dumb wings!"

"OOOHH!" The collective of boys behind the small demon pointed at him as he uncrossed his arms and his face grew red with anger.

He took a step forward but Bastet hissed again.

"Watch out the vampire cat's going to bite you."

"Then you turn into one too."

The group stepped forward prepping for an attack.

"Remember if you beat the vampire then everything they turned goes back to normal." Tsubasa had his sights on Izuku.

"Awesome. Don't worry cat we'll turn you back to normal." One boy turned to Himiko.

"Her name is Bastet."

The same boy scrunched up his nose. "That sounds like some kinda magic. She's a witch too, get her!"

All at once the group of four boys rushed. Two charged Himiko and the other two, including Tsubasa went for Izuku.

Izuku kicked the ball catching his non-winged opponent in the face and making him trip and fall down.

Bastet ran into one of the boys legs making that one trip instead of outright scratching him and he slammed into the boy already on the ground.

The third boy tackled Himiko and they tussled on the ground while Tsubasa rushed Izuku from above picking him up by the shoulders.

Bastet rushed over to Himiko biting the leg of her opponent through the socks while Himiko smacked his face repeatedly.

The tiny devil struggled to lift Izuku very far from the ground, their combined weight putting a massive strain on his wings. He glanced to the side catching sight of Himiko shoving off a crying boy. He didn't see the cat.

Suddenly he felt his grip start to give. He looked down to see the cat holding onto Izuku. The winged boy put all his effort into pulling up. He didn't notice the cat climb up Izuku's back.

Bastet scrambled up, placing her back feet on Izuku's hat pushing it down far enough that it covered his eyes. She reached up and scratched one of the winged boy's hands.

Tsubasa cried out, letting go with one hand making the combined weight too much and the trio crashed into the ground, the winged boy skidding face first across the dirt.

Himiko stood up watching the boy she fought run off crying then she rushed to Izuku's side helping him up.

The two boys on the ground scrambled to untangle themselves and get back up as well.

Himiko got Izuku up while keeping an eye on the winged boy. She froze when she saw his hand bleeding from Bastet's scratch and his forehead bleeding from a scrape.

She was mesmerized. Her pupils constricted making them resemble Bastet's. Himiko stepped towards him. The blood screamed for attention in her eyes; pretty just like the bird had been. She lost any previous focus she'd had on the boy and was dead set on the blood. She opened her mouth to ask him about it.

The devil boy cried while looking at her then got up and ran away.

That snapped Himiko back to her senses. She saw the other two boys get up and run away while yelling out.

"Watch out she wants your blood! Don't end up like the cat!"

Himiko watched on with a mixture of hurt and confusion.

"Himi?" Izuku walked over and put his hand in hers.

She looked down at their hands then followed him as he led her towards the bushes at the back.

Bastet shook her fur and waddled after them.

They sat down behind the bushes away from any one who might try and bother them again.

Bastet walked around and against the two purring as if to try and soothe them.

Himiko ran her free hand against the back of Bastet's head.

"Is it...bad to like blood?"

Izuku looked down at their hands. "I don't know." His eyes went up and met hers as he spoke with sudden fervor. "But I know you're not bad. You're nice to Bachan, and you're nice to me and you never pick a fight with anyone and you always defend us and...and...and you're a good person."

Himiko didn't fight the smile that grew on her face. Izuku's hand felt soft and kind but most importantly warm in hers. Bastet wrapped her paws around Himiko's free hand rubbing her face and whiskers against it.

Himiko let herself lean against Izuku's shoulder.

She didn't quite have an answer but she did feel a little better.

* * *

(4)

The next day Izuku and Himiko were side by side drawing with Bastet hiding behind their backs from the orderlies.

Himiko drew herself, Izuku with his bunny hat and Bastet. Izuku drew the three of them but as heroes. He even gave Bastet a little yellow hero outfit.

Bastet's tail grazed against Himiko's back.

"We should make Bachan a nametag." Izuku put down his crayon to look at Himiko.

Bastet put her paws on their shoulders raising herself up and tickled their cheeks with her whiskers.

They giggled and Izuku got up to look for supplies to use.

While Izuku searched, the orderly in the room caught sight of Bastet nuzzling against Himiko's cheek and gave a sigh of defeat not even attempting to reprimand them anymore.

Izuku came back with a small plastic tag like the ones that labeled the crayons and papers and other supplies.

Before long they had her nametag ready though Bastet simply stared at it with mild disinterest.

Himiko made a small adjustment so that the tag read _Bacchan _.

"I don't think that's how you spell Bachan."

"There's an extra C because she's extra cute!" Himiko cupped Bastet's cheeks.

Bastet meowed and pawed Himiko's face, tail swaying gently behind her.

"See, she likes it," came Himiko's muffled voice from behind a small black paw.

"C'mere, Bachan." Izuku held up the name tag made wearable by some yarn going through the tag and tied with a knot at the back.

It was the finest jewelry two four years old could produce and Bastet walked onto Izuku's lap with an air of importance and angled her head.

Izuku got the makeshift necklace down her head and around her neck dropping his hands to rest on his lap. Bastet eyed them and reached out grabbing one of his hands between two paws. She pulled his hand up to her head where she let it go once he got the message and began scratching her ears.

Izuku reached around with his free hand. "Bachan." She didn't notice. "Bachan, I have something for you."

Again Bastet didn't notice so Izuku stopped the ear scratching. She looked at him with betrayal until she saw the cheese crackers in his other hand. Her eyes shifted between Izuku's face and the crackers.

She finally gave in and went for the crackers scarfing them down, her whiskers tickling Izuku's hand.

Himiko's hand came over and took over scratching the back of Bastet's neck and head. Bastet didn't stop eating but affectionately grazed Himiko's arm with her tail.

A short while later the trio were in their new favorite spot, by the beanbags. Izuku and Himiko leaned back against the beanbags and each other, their bangs gently grazing the other while they slept peacefully.

Even asleep the two friends held hands. Bastet was curled up on Izuku's lap, her small frame rising and lowering as she breathed.

Her own slumber was distrubed by the impact of a small piece of crayon hitting her side. Bastet snapped her eyes open searching around the room for who had disturbed her. Most of the other kids were either sleeping or quietly drawing.

The only one that really caught Bastet's attention was Bakugo preparing another piece of crayon. He chucked it and it bounced off Izuku's cheek.

Izuku stirred slightly and whined softly making a light swipe for his cheek. Bastet's pupils narrowed into slits and a light growl grew in her throat.

An orderly walked over and scolded Bakugo about disturbing the other sleeping kids. The blond huffed and laid down, draping a small All Might themed blanket over himself.

The orderly went back to her spot in a nearby chair and Bastet stood up, ready to make her move.

She sneaked across the room weaving around or behind the other kids sleeping. She kept herself low, stalking like she had with the pigeon the other day.

She reached the blond's side with soundless steps, the carpet masking any sound her fluffy paws might have made.

She raised her right paw, hovering over him with purpose.

She brought the paw down as hard as she could and a loud smack resounded throughout the room.

Bakugo let out a yelp as he sat up looking around for the culprit. He saw no one who could have been responsible and the orderly came over again to reprimand him for disturbing the kids around him with his loud voice.

As he was being scolded Bakugo caught sight of Bastet past the orderly.

The cat sauntered back to Izuku, hopped onto his lap, and laid down without breaking eye contact with the blond.

If a cat could be smug then Bakugo most certainly saw Bastet being so.

* * *

(5)

Himiko leaned against Izuku's arm as she watched him finish up a drawing. Bastet rested against Izuku's other side, her name tag from the day before barely visible as she snuggled into Izuku's shirt.

"You really like All Might, huh?" Himiko yellow eyes scanned Izuku's masterpiece, a big man in blue with golden bunny ears on the top of his head.

"Mmhm!" Izuku smiled brightly as he added the finishing touches to All Might's smile.

Himiko glanced between the two. She preferred Izuku's smile. It reached his eyes, gave off a kind warmth and felt so genuine. It was the kind of smile that invited you to bask in the same emotion, the kind of smile that wanted you to be happy as well. The kind of smile that shared happiness rather than simply express it.

She looked to All Might's smile. It was confident and strong but it felt distant. She didn't feel anything from it. It didn't make her smile.

Her eyes looked up.

But it made Izuku smile.

A while later Izuku and Himiko played around with Bastet outside. None of the other kids bothered them, the threat of being scratched, bitten or just overall dealing with a "vampire cat" seemed to have staved off whatever hostility the other kids felt for the trio.

Himiko tripped over Bastet and rested on the ground for a moment feeling tired from chasing and being chased by Bastet who despite having short legs could move quite fast.

Izuku held out a hand to help her up. She took it and didn't let go as they went back inside to their unofficial throne, the beanbag. They sat down still holding hands and Bastet took her spot as well on Izuku's lap.

Himiko watched another kid get dropped off by her parents and just sit there. The parents left and once the front door shut Himiko remembered something. Something she was going to tell Izuku but had forgotten.

The girl left by her parents started crying and Himiko felt Izuku begin to get up. Before he could go over to the girl one of the orderly got there first and helped calm the girl down.

Himiko gently tugged Izuku's hand, a silent request for him to sit back down. He did and Bastet hopped back into his lap seemingly not annoyed despite being moved by Izuku.

Himiko looked at Bastet curled up and thought about what she wanted to tell him. Maybe she work up to it.

"Do you know where Bachan stays?"

Izuku shook his head.

"Me neither. She never comes home with me or mom but she's always well fed I think. And she's always able to find us. Sometimes she catches me on the way here. Sometimes she just comes straight here."

Izuku stroked Bastet's fur and was rewarded with a low purr. "I guess you were right then, she can take care of herself."

Himiko nodded. "So, if one of us was away she'd be okay I think."

Izuku blinked and turned to Himiko. "Himi are you-"

"I'm not going to be here tomorrow."

Izuku's eyes widened. Before he could speak he was interrupted again.

"I will be the day after. It's just that tomorrow my mom has to do something and she's going to take me with her for the day." She squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

Himiko looked away from his large expressive eyes. "Because I'm leaving you alone tomorrow."

"But you'll be back the day after right? You promise?"

Himiko nodded.

"Then it's okay."

Himiko looked back and was met with that smile.

"We still get one more day. We get to say goodbye."

"I don't want to say goodbye." She felt tears in her eyes.

"Me neither." Tears formed in his eyes shifting his smile into a mix of comfort and sadness.

It became a smile that not only shared his happiness but shared her pain.

They shed full tears, splitting that pain between the two of them to something more manageable.

They didn't bawl their eyes out like the girl who was left behind.

They simply cried quietly, the presence of one helping the other.

Their crying tired them out and they slumped just barely fighting off sleep.

Himiko's eyelids drooped, her eyes wet and yet she felt better. Even crying helped when Izuku was with her.

"I'm going to miss you." Her voice and the loneliness in it are only heard by Izuku as the two drifted off to sleep.

* * *

(6)

Izuku awoke in his bed alone, the bit of sunlight seeping through the curtains telling him it was morning.

He got up leaving his bunny hat on the bed, his fluffy green hair a complete mess. Izuku waddled towards the living room and poked his head in.

"...really? Uh, no no that works out perfectly. Thank you." Inko hung up and spotted Izuku. "I'm sorry sweetie, did I wake you?"

Izuku gently shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Who was that?" He asked, his voice drowsy.

"That was someone from work. Turns out I have the day off. You don't have to stay at the daycare. We can spend the whole day together just me and you."

Izuku's sleepiness seemed to just fall to the sides as his face lit up into a big smile full of childish glee.

Inko felt a tremendous warmth in her chest. Learning she had the day off was a great feeling, even a little better than payday but seeing her baby boy's bright smile was priceless.

She felt like her heart was going to burst from how much love she felt for her son. She rushed forward kneeling down and pulling him into a hug.

"I love you, sweetie." She kissed the top of his head, his messy hair felt soft against her face.

"I love you too, mommy." Came his muffled voice from her chest.

Inko held him tightly, promising herself that she would give him all the love she had, all the love he deserved. Today would be about him. Whatever he wanted she would find a way to get for him.

She kissed the top of his head again and pulled back on the hug to see his face. His cheeks were so round and squishy that she couldn't help herself and cupped them with both hands. He looked up at her with all the innocence of a small puppy.

"Is there anywhere that you know you want to go for sure?"

Despite Inko's smile being wide and cheery, Izuku took note of the bags still present under her eyes. His face was in her hands so he couldn't tilt his head but he thought about the bed.

When he didn't answer she added, "it's okay if you don't know right now. We can just go out and look around for something fun. If you think about somewhere you want to go or something you want to do just tell me, okay?"

Izuku nodded in her hands.

"Good, now let's fix this hair first." She let his cheeks go and led him to the bathroom.

A short while later the two were on a train heading to a nearby park. Izuku sat by the window peering with wonder as the park came into view.

Izuku stuck close to Inko as they left the train and got to the park itself. Izuku and Inko walked around pausing every now and again to point at some squirrels or crows that got close and observed the duo with mild curiosity.

At one point a dog came running out of nowhere with the leash dragging on the ground as it's owner chased after it.

The dog, a great Dane, spotted Izuku and changed it's aimless course to a b-line for him. Inko got in front of Izuku in a protective stance and the owner tensed up, too far away to stop the dog if it did anything.

The dog just stopped in front of Inko trying to peer behind her. Izuku went around Inko's leg and right up to the dog. He reached with a chubby little hand. The dog sniffed it curiously then let Izuku pet it, it's tail wagging furiously and thumping against the grass.

Both Inko and the owner let out a sigh of relief. The owner made it to them and apologized profusely meanwhile Izuku played with the dog.

The owner let them play and even tried starting up some fetch by throwing a branch for the dog to retrieve. It did but didn't let it go when the owner asked much to her embarrassment. She tried prying it from the dog's mouth and that didn't work either.

Izuku asked the dog for the stick and the dog happily dropped the stick in front of him. He threw and although it wasn't very far the Dane chased after it at full speed, its black coat beautiful and well groomed.

It came back with the stick and dropped it when Izuku asked. The owner scrunched up her nose, a little envious of Izuku's command over her large dog.

Izuku and the Dane played for a little longer until the owner had to leave, taking her Dane with her. Izuku waved goodbye and then he and Inko went back to enjoying the park.

They picked a spot under a tree enjoying its shade and watched an old man near the lake feed a bunch of ducks.

Izuku got curious and wandered over, Inko right behind him. The old man gave them a kindly smile and asked if Izuku wanted to try feeding them as he held out some bird feed for Izuku to use.

Izuku took a cup full of bird feed from the old man and walked over to the edge of the lake.

He dropped a handful on the ground and two ducks each with a brood of ducklings following them eagerly scooped up the feed.

Izuku tossed more feed on the ground then grabbed a handful and held his hand out. None of the two ducks bothered with it so he bent down. He wiggled his hand dropping some more feed and a few ducklings ate from what was spilled.

One single duckling got close and began eating from his hand. Izuku turned his head smiling at Inko.

Inko smiled back taking a seat next to the old man.

Izuku turned back and pulled another handful out. This time more ducklings ate from his hand. He did this again and again each time getting more ducklings eating from his hand. He took the last handful out of the cup leaving it empty and held out his hand again. This time one of the ducks ate from it as well.

When they had cleaned his hand of bird feed they quacked and tilted their heads curiously awaiting more food.

Izuku got up and walked back to the old man with the cup. He didn't see the line of ducks and ducklings following him in a line.

Inko and the old man chuckled at the sight. They filled Izuku's cup and just as he turned around to head back got a light startle from one of the ducks dipping its head into his cup.

Izuku reached for its neck but the duck pulled its head out and stared at him. Izuku and the duck just stood there still for a moment.

It quacked at him then went back to digging into the cup. Izuku reached out again and pet the duck.

It ruffled its white feathers but otherwise didn't react to being pet.

"Huh, ain't that something." The old man motioned to the duck. "They don't normally like being pet, even by me."

"They don't get agitated do they?" Inko prepped to pull Izuku away if need be.

"No, no they just tend to run away if people get too chummy with them."

At that the duck pulled its head out and quacked at the old man.

"Uh-huh." The old man responded and threw some more bird feed on the ground.

The duck went for it and Izuku was free to feed more ducklings.

They surrounded him, little bundles of yellow fluff that let out high pitched sounds that were closer to chirps than quacks.

"They certainly like you enough. Say, what do you think about taking one and raising it yourself. Once you've got them comfortable with you it's just a matter of getting them the right food and living conditions." The man threw some more feed on the ground and gestured to the little ducklings.

Inko looked from Izuku to the old man. They didn't by any means have the space or even money to be able to properly care for an animal. Before she could deny the offer however, Izuku spoke up.

"I don't want to take one." His green eyes met the old man's dull brown eyes.

"Why's that? They like you well enough. Are ducks not really your favorite animal?"

Izuku glanced at the ducklings eating from his hand then back to the old man. "If I take one, then they can't be with their mommy and daddy." His irises two large and gentle pools of green.

One of the ducks quacked at the old man.

"Guess they'd appreciate that." The man scratched his ear and threw more feed out.

Izuku looked back at Inko staring at the bags under her eyes again. She yawned and smiled at him. He finished feeding the ducklings and returned the cup to the old man thanking him.

He and Inko then left the man and soon enough the park itself. They were back on the train, Izuku in the window seat again but this time he was hugging Inko's side instead of looking out the window.

The prospect of separating a duckling from its parents reminded him of Himiko's words the day before.

'_ I'm going to miss you.' _

He hugged Inko a little tighter then remembered something. He looked up at her and tugged on her shirt.

"Mommy, can we go to the plushie place?"

She blinked and once recognition hit she smiled and stroked his hair. "Of course, sweetie. Do you know what design you want?"

He nodded, a small fire of determination in his eyes.

When they made it to their destination Izuku read the sign outside the store.

**'Build a Hero Workshop'**

A kindly short woman stepped out and smiled when she saw Inko, welcoming the two. When Inko told her what they were there for the woman nodded and turned to Izuku.

Izuku told her what he wanted the plushie to look like and Inko blinked in surprise. "Are you sure? You can make it look like anything or anyone you want. You don't have to hold back."

Izuku shook his head and motioned her down.

Inko knelt down and Izuku whispered something in her ear making sure to cup his hands so it would be a secret.

Inko smiled when she heard why he wanted what he did. She stroked his cheek. It was a very "Izuku" reason for doing something.

An hour and a half later they left the store with a bag bearing the store's logo, a nondescript plushie of a hero with a cape.

They then went to buy ingredients for dinner. As Inko gathered enough to make katsudon that night Izuku stared at a rack of different vials. He looked for the small ones and then the one with the smallest number next to it.

He asked Inko for one and although confused she obliged. The one he got was small enough that he could wrap his chubby little fingers around.

When they were done they took hopped on one more train, noon managing to sneak up on them.

Izuku was once again inseparable from Inko's side.

She played with his hair. "Anywhere you wanted to go?"

Izuku tilted his head upwards and stared at the bags under her eyes again.

Inko yawned and smiled at him.

"Home," he said.

"Are you sure? We still have some time."

"Home." He repeated and hugged her tighter.

Inko found it impossible to object with the way he looked at her so home they went.

The first thing they did when they got home was bathe. Inko scrubbed Izuku's hair meanwhile Izuku collected the mass of bubbles and foam coating his arms and hands with them like some kind of gauntlet that only his childish mind could see.

When Inko poured water over him, Izuku closed his eyes to avoid any shampoo in his eyes. Inko hummed softly and Izuku listened patiently, her voice more comforting than the warm bath water.

When they finished Izuku's hair spent the hour or so Inko took to prepare the katsudon going from a damp mess to a fluffy mess.

When the food was ready they sat side by side. Inko raised a cutlet and Izuku mimicked her. When he thought she wasn't looking he stole glances at her face.

Inko hummed, pretending to not notice for a while. Izuku took one glance too many and received a light poke to the cheek, then another and another until he was in a fit of giggles.

Inko grabbed a napkin and cleaned up some food that had gotten on his cheek from the fit.

Izuku calmed down and stared intently at her while she cleaned his face.

She glanced at the clock on the kitchen counter, four thirty-seven in the afternoon. The ride home, bath and eating took longer than she thought even if there was still plenty of time. Then again she did have to get up early tomorrow.

"Izuku, what do you want to do now?" She yawned.

"Sleep." He raised up his arms like he wanted to be carried.

She smirked at him. "Are you sure you're tired?"

Izuku gave the most unconvincing yawn ever and motioned with his arms. "Yes, sleep time."

She picked Izuku up and took him over to the bed setting him down. He tugged on her sleeve.

"I have to clean up first."

Izuku gave a soft pout.

"I'll be quick," she promised.

Izuku reluctantly let go and sat down on the bed waiting patiently while she cleaned up their plates.

He looked around and spotted his bunny hat still there from when he left it that morning.

He picked it up tracing his fingers over the stitched up line keeping the ear connected to the rest of the hat.

"Izuku?" Inko came back wiping her hands on her pants.

Izuku looked over at her putting the hat back down. She led him to the bathroom and as they brushed their teeth Izuku saw her reflection in the mirror.

What he'd seen before were bags under her eyes but beneath the cruddy bathroom light Inko carried luggage beneath her eyes.

When they finished she picked him up and went back to the bedroom making sure they were both well beneath the covers.

She hugged him close to her chest and let her eyes close, humming softly.

Izuku stared at her face.

It was way earlier than they normally went to sleep.

Izuku kissed her cheek and snuggled against her, content that at least for today she'd get enough sleep.

* * *

(7)

They ran, the three of them; Izuku, Himiko and Bastet. They ran and played and stumbled and got dirty.

This was it, Himiko's last day and they wanted to squeeze out every last second they could. They wanted Himiko's parents to change their mind and for her to stay so that they could become and an inseparable trio.

Instead the sun traced along across the sky and the three of them ran in the outdoor area of the daycare as if trying to run away from time itself.

Izuku tripped and scraped his cheek. Before Himiko could worry about him he had a plain bandage over the scrape. Every moment mattered and he didn't want to waste a single one.

They played pretend heroes and used the seesaw and patty cake with Bastet and any little thing they could think of.

And they ran out of time.

Himiko's mother was coming soon but they still had something they needed to do. They scrambled back inside then back outside to where they first properly met, behind the bushes.

Izuku and Himiko both had their hands behind their back, hiding something as they face each other.

"I got you a present!" Izuku set his bag with the plushie logo behind him.

"Me too!" Himiko held out a one of a kind All Might figure. There were only a few of these being sold.

Himiko handed it to him and she saw it again, that wonderful smile that always lifted her spirits.

"You bought this for me?"

Himiko awkwardly kept her lips pressed together and just gave a vague hum of agreement. "I got it just for you."

She thought he was going to start crying with how emotional he looked. Instead he kept his smile, looking like she'd just handed him the world.

She felt it was worth it, enough so that she forgot he brought something with him as well.

"I got you something too, Himi. But first." He reached into his bag and pulled two things out, a small vial and a little case.

He handed Himiko the vial.

"Can you open it, please?"

While she did this he opened the case pulling out a sewing needle.

"I know other kids don't like it when you get happy about blood but I don't mind. I want you to have some of mine. You could use it for your quirk or...or just keep it. I don't really get it, liking blood or which is tasty or not but...I trust you with mine cause you're my best friend." His smile was a little more nervous now.

Izuku pricked the index finger on his right hand and began dripping it into the vial.

Had it been a week ago or even just a day ago Himiko's focus would have been on the blood. Instead her focus was completely on Izuku's face, on the tears forming in his eyes. The price for this gift was pain and it made something click for Himiko.

For as gorgeous as it looked when it dripped or as delicious as it tasted Himiko realized she didn't want to have any if it came from hurting someone she cared about.

She gripped the vial tightly making sure that not a single drop of Izuku's blood would be wasted.

It didn't take long for it to be filled. The vial was small enough that she could cover it with by wrapping one hand around it.

In that hand she could feel the warmth. Not just the warmth from his blood but from his kindness.

She put the tap back on the vial and gently put it away in her pocket keeping her eyes on Izuku's tearful but encouraging face.

He reached for his pockets but Himiko stopped him.

She pulled her own band aid out and wrapped it around his finger covering the small wound. The band aid had little cartoon bunnies on it.

She didn't take her eyes off his. "Does it still hurt?"

Izuku nodded trying to blink some tears away.

Himiko gently took a hold of his hand in both of hers.

"My mom does this whenever I get hurt and it always makes me feel better." She brought his hand close to her face and placed a kiss on the wound over the band aid.

She pulled her face away from his hand. "Did it help?"

Izuku nodded wiping tears from one of his eyes. Himiko reached out and helped him wipe the other eye with her sleeve.

Below them, Bastet rubbed herself against their ankles doing her best to soothe them in her own way.

When they'd finished wiping his tears away Izuku spoke up.

"I still have another present for you." He reached for the bag and handed it to her. "Go ahead, take it out."

Himiko reached in and pulled out his present for her.

It was a small plushie version of Izuku in a little green outfit with green bunny ears on the top of his head.

He gave her the softest smile she'd ever seen.

"Whenever you feel lonely or you miss me you can hug it and it'll be like I'm still with you."

Himiko wasn't like Izuku. She didn't just keep smiling. She cried because she cared about him, cried because she was going to miss him and cried because she was so happy for the gift.

Izuku hugged her and Bastet clung on as well.

"Himiko!" A voice rang out from the daycare.

It was time to go.

This time Izuku wiped her tears.

"L-Look af-fter Bac-cchan, okay?"

"I will."

"And B-Bacchan, look a-after Zu-z-zu."

Bastet meowed affectionately.

"Will I-I see y-you again?"

Izuku nodded.

"P-Promise?"

Izuku wrapped his pinkie around hers. "I pinky promise. And when we see each other again we're gonna become the best heroes."

They let their hands drop to their side, pinkies intertwined. Himiko then moved the rest of her fingers until she was holding his left hand.

They walked out from behind the bushes towards Himiko's mother, Bastet following closely behind.

"Bye bye, Zuzu."

"Bye bye, Himi."

Himiko's mother had to pry Himiko's hand to split them up.

As they left Himiko kept her head turned, eyes on Izuku and he kept waving goodbye.

He waved when she went back inside. He waved when he saw her on the other side of the outside fence. He waved when she got in the car. He waved as she drove away and kept waving even after he couldn't see her anymore.

Bastet chased after the car trying as hard as she could to keep up with its engine using her short stubby legs. Eventually the car outran her and Bastet stopped in the middle of the road just staring.

Himiko watched from the window of the car as Izuku waved and Bastet chased. She watched them try as much as they could. She watched as they became smaller and smaller from the window. Within moments she completely lost sight of them.

She hugged the plushie.


	4. Chapter 4: The Cat and the Splat

Izuku, now five, sat next to Inko on the couch and eyed her. They each had sewing tools and clothing, in their laps, with Izuku having his hat while Inko had her hero costume.

Inko had already threaded both their needles and now she put on a thimble on her middle finger. Izuku copied her by putting a smaller, more discolored thimble on his. He cautiously followed her lead as she took the needle and hooked it against the thimble before bringing it to her costume.

Her costume had a large tear running along the right sleeve while Izuku's hat only had a small tear at the back. Inko ran the needle through the cloth slowly but without difficulty. Izuku got the needle halfway through before realizing he'd started on the wrong spot.

He looked up at his mother, worry in his eyes because he'd messed up.

She smiled. "It's okay. Just pull it back out the same way and try again. You didn't get the thread in so there's no harm."

He did as she asked but still missed the second time.

"Almost there, you were much closer this time," she encouraged.

Izuku retracted the needle without needing to be told and tried a third time.

He got it and after receiving a reassuring nod from Inko he ran it through and watched the green thread become part of the hat.

"See, you did it. Can you do it again?"

Izuku became emboldened and nodded enthusiastically.

Inko watched carefully as she stitched up her costume, giving affirmation every time he got it right and reassurance when he didn't.

Within minutes the small tear at the back of Izuku's hat was stitched up and now only the leftover thread was left to deal with.

"Do you remember what to do?"

"Yes!" Izuku's voice was filled with confidence as he grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the thread, his tongue sticking slightly out the side of his mouth as he concentrated.

When he was done Izuku held it up proudly to show his mother.

"You did it." Inko's voice was cheerful as she praised him and took the hat in her hands running her fingers through the back making sure it was done.

She put the hat on his head and watched the bunny ears droop over his adorably puffy cheeks. She gave said cheeks a poke, then another and soon Izuku was in the midst of a giggling fit as Inko tickled him.

His voice a happy, loud, and unrestrained squeal bounced off the walls of the apartment, even a few seconds after she'd stopped tickling him.

Inko smiled warmly at him. "Now go make sure you have everything in your backpack. I'll take you to school just as soon as I'm done with this."

Izuku scrambled off the couch, put away his sewing tools and ran for the bedroom to get his backpack.

* * *

"Come on kids, stick together." The teacher spoke with little enthusiasm.

The kids on the other hand buzzed with excitement, Izuku especially. When he'd heard that they were going on a small field trip to see hero agencies he'd fallen out of his chair from how happily he'd been swaying. Some of the other kids had laughed but he didn't care. He was going to see heroes in person.

The teacher was at the front of the class, leading them through streets as they made their way to a local hero agency. Behind the teacher was Bakugo and his goons, who were as excited as anyone else but Izuku made sure to keep away from them towards the back of the group.

Most of the kids were holding hands as part of their buddy system so they wouldn't get lost. None of the kids around Izuku seemed to want to hold his hand so he simply held onto the ears of his bunny hat. He held them like the straps of a helmet down the sides of his face and under his chin.

The sound of a commotion rang out but the teacher paid it little attention, keeping the children moving at the same slow pace.

Suddenly, something crashed into a building wall, breaking and dropping concrete onto the sidewalk across the street from the class.

The kids all jumped eagerly, trying to see what was going on and even the teacher's lazy gaze widened a bit.

Out of wall came an armored yellow ball that unfurled to reveal a costumed hero with no more than a few scratches on his face.

The children squealed in excitement and some of the people driving stopped their cars to stare.

The hero looked around at the people just standing around but before he could say anything he was ambushed by a large man with massive apelike arms. The hero forced himself back into a ball, absorbing the pummeling from the ape armed villain.

Out from a nearby alleyway rushed a hero Izuku knew very well. He recognized the green jumpsuit stitched up in various places, the headpiece that served as both a hood and mask covering the heroes face down to the bridge of her nose, the red toolbelt around her waist and the kind but strong face beneath the mask. It was his mother.

Izuku watched in awe as she gave orders to two other heroes that sprung from the alleyway behind her, sending them to clear that side of the street of civilians. Izuku couldn't peel his eyes away as he saw her move towards the ape villain using her quirk to pull a piece of concrete from the broken wall towards herself and positioning so that the villain was between her and the debris.

The villain stumbled from the rock slamming into his shoulder and looked around spotting Inko.

Izuku held his breath. Rather than run, Inko pulled more and more debris from the shattered wall, knocking and distracting the villain while the two new heroes cleared out the street.

Most of the civilians ran over to the side the children were at but instead of stopping and staring like the class the people just kept running past them trying to get to a safe distance.

The children and teacher were too busy watching the fight unfold. Izuku clutched his bunny ears tightly, praying for Inko's safety.

Inko's attacks kept the villain on the defensive but her assault also meant that the yellow costumed hero had to stay curled up like an armadillo or risk getting hit by debris or clobbered by the villain's pummeling.

The villain used his massive arms to deflect a piece of concrete and it spiraled towards Inko forcing her to stop and evade for a moment.

In that brief moment the villain picked up the armored hero up and raised him, ready to throw him. The villain's eyes darted around and spotted the large group of immobile kids just gawking on the other side of the street.

He used his massive arms to chuck the hero like a projectile at the children then turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Inko saw the throw and the children, Izuku's big green hat specifically, and she rushed to intercept it.

Izuku's eyes widened at the incoming ball of armor turned missile as it sped towards them. His body froze in place, his mind unable to keep up with the fear pounding in his heart yelling at him to get out of the way.

Izuku's eyes widened further when he saw Inko act.

She reached out with both hands pulling at the flying hero with her quirk. Her face became red with strain as she broke and restarted the hero's momentum, this time towards herself.

The armored ball flew towards her hands which she moved to her right side as if baiting a bull. She tilted her body and spun just before it reached her hands, doing a full 540 degree spin. The armored hero turned into a blur as he spun around her approaching but never fully reaching her hands.

She let go of her quirk's hold on the hero and he launched towards the villain like a cannonball, slamming straight into his villainous back.

The villain gave a yelp of pain after the resounding crack from the impact and fell down face first on the ground.

Inko's chest rose and fell quickly as she breathed heavily and tried to stop her heart from jackhammering its way completely out of her body.

She watched the other heroes rush to and apprehend the villain, although at that point the villain was out cold. She glanced at the back of her hand seeing a rough scrape from her spin where the armored hero had grazed her.

She shook her hand and stomped on over to the children. There were more important matters than her wound.

She reached the kids, dropped down and pulled Izuku into a tight hug. "Izuku baby, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

She quickly checked him despite not having seen anything actually reach the kids during the fight. She couldn't be too sure. She had to be safe. But there was nothing wrong with Izuku. No cuts, scrapes, wounds of any kind; just an awed expression as his large green eyes stared at her silently.

She got up and turned on the teacher. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

Izuku stood there, completely flabbergasted as she chewed out the teacher for letting the kids stay that close to an actual hero fight instead of taking the children away to somewhere safe.

Izuku's grip remained on the bunny ears as he tried to process what had just happened.

He'd always known that Inko was the one that would take care of him, keep him safe and know everything: she was his mother after all.

But this was different, something new. He had never actually seen her do hero work before. He just knew that it was her job: the thing that kept her from staying with him all day.

The scene that had played out was not foreign to him. He'd seen plenty of encounters like that on the news. He often gushed whenever he saw All Might handling them.

That was on the news though: on Tv where the distance between Izuku and the encounter made it seem like a movie, unreal.

This had been right in front of him, inescapable especially as he'd frozen up at the first sign of danger.

And there she'd been, his mother, on the scene, handling danger just like the heroes on TV.

Except it wasn't the same. She hadn't just fought a villain and saved people; she'd fought a villain and saved _him. _

As he rummaged through these thoughts it finally clicked in his brain.

More than any of the others, even All Might, she was a hero: his hero.

* * *

Izuku's class played around in the small wooded area just behind their school. The teacher, after a humiliating scolding from Inko a few days ago had decided to not risk taking the kids far from school anymore.

Some of the kids chased each other around, many formed small groups, while Izuku sat under a tree with Bastet in his lap.

She'd usually stop by after school to play with him every so often. Aside from that, Izuku was never sure where Bastet went. She always seemed to be well fed despite, as far as he knew, being a stray. Bastet did however still have the name tag that Izuku and Himiko had made for her.

Izuku sat there, stroking Bastet's fur as he watched the other kids play. Bakugo's group followed the blond as he marched atop a tree trunk using it as a bridge to cross the low stream nearby.

A few other kids were playing in the stream muddying and getting their clothes wet.

Bakugo let off a few pops from his hand using his quirk, chanting some makeshift song until he slipped and fell into the water with a small yelp.

Bakugo blinked. Aside from the surprise and his clothes getting wet he was okay.

He was until he heard laughing.

Looking around Bakugo saw most of the kids in the class laugh and a few point at him.

Someone called him clumsy, someone else a klutz, another called him a chump for not knowing how to walk in a straight line.

Bakugo's cheeks burned with humiliation and then rage. Who did these chumps think they were laughing at him? Most of them were too scared to even try crossing the trunk so they shouldn't even be saying anything.

One of the kids even made a mocking gesture towards his eyes as if fake crying in response to Bakugo's face getting wet from the stream. The blond grit his teeth. This kid was first on his list.

Bakugo knew he hadn't cried, in fact not only had he not cried but he was perfectly fine. He caught sight of two kids from the top of the trunk looking worriedly at him. He was this close to losing it. Why were they worried? He was fine.

"It's okay, Kacchan's strong he's alright." Tsubasa's voice rang out as he too looked over from the trunk.

Bakugo almost smiled. That was right. Tsubasa knew, he knew Bakugo was okay and that this was nothing. Not a big deal for people to worry about and definitely not a big deal for people to laugh at him for.

Izuku dropped down into the stream. "Stop laughing at him." Even if he'd had problems with Bakugo before, the greenette still didn't like the idea of everyone ganging up and laughing at someone. He held his hand out to help Bakugo up. "Are you okay?"

"aRe YoU OkAy?" The kid who'd mocked tears taunted again.

Something in Bakugo snapped. He couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand these idiots sitting around laughing at him because they thought he was crying, he couldn't stand his own goons panicking like he'd been hurt, and he absolutely couldn't stand this quirkless Deku running up to him trying to help him.

He didn't need help. Not from Deku, not from anyone. He was the best here. He had the best quirk, he was smart, he had the guts to try anything. He was amazing and the rest of them weren't, especially not Deku. So Deku running to help him meant that he was looking down on him, even more than any of these other losers.

Bakugo got up, letting out a growl as he lunged and struck Izuku in the face with his quirk, knocking the boy down.

He tried to follow up but the teacher's voice rang out, more worried than angry.

"Bakugo!"

The teacher rushed over pulling the blond away from Izuku who had a scared and confused look in his eyes as he held his freckled cheek where he'd been struck.

The teacher scolded Bakugo, giving a long winded lecture about using his quirk on other people. The blond didn't pay much attention and instead watched Izuku who was still on the ground holding his cheek.

Bakugo glared at Izuku. Bastet suddenly jumped onto Izuku's lap, ignoring the water from the stream and hissed angrily at the blond.

Bakugo scowled, realizing that he'd need to be sneakier so he wouldn't get in trouble and that he'd have to do it inside school to avoid the cat.

* * *

A few days passed without much incident aside from a few nasty glares aimed at Izuku. That was until an assignment got returned and the teacher made a point of declaring winners for best work. It had been drawings and the teacher announced Bakugo's as the first place.

Bakugo huffed proudly, feeling assured in his position.

At least he did until Izuku got declared as second place for his drawing.

The blond seethed as he watched Izuku happily accept an All Might sticker just like he had.

Bakugo couldn't do anything about it in the classroom under the teacher's eye but he was definitely going to figure something out. He couldn't stand the idea of Deku gaining on him like that, especially at something Bakugo had already proven to be the best at.

The rest of that day was relatively uneventful until it came time for the kids to go home. Izuku met up with Bastet who was waiting for him near the shoe lockers. She meowed and her fur bristled, she was on edge.

As Izuku opened his locker Bastet kept pawing at his pants. He pulled out his shoes and Bastet dug her claws into his pants and pulled at them, causing Izuku to drop the shoes.

A bunch of pins fell out of the shoes and onto the ground.

Izuku took a step back startled. Bastet let go of his pants and growled at the pins, raising a paw as if to strike them.

"Bacchan?" Izuku looked down at her. "Were you warning me?"

Bastet only offered a meow in response.

Izuku looked to the other kids taking their shoes out. They paid attention only when he'd dropped the shoes and pins but aside from that ignored him. He carefully picked up the pins on the floor to avoid anyone stepping on them and rushed off to tell a teacher.

Before Bastet followed Izuku she heard someone click their tongue. When she turned to see where it came from she spotted Bakugo scowling from around the corner of the lockers.

Bastet hissed, baring her teeth at the blond and then chased after Izuku.

* * *

The next day the teacher called attention from the entire class asking about who had put pins in Izuku's shoes.

When no one spoke up the teacher sighed. "If the person responsible doesn't accept their punishment then I'll just have to punish the whole class."

Groans and protests rang out from the kids. Even with the threat of a class punishment, no single child spoke up to accept responsibility.

The teacher rubbed his temples. "Fine, but just don't do it again whoever it was."

Class continued with no further interruptions. Izuku didn't spend much time pondering who had put pins in his shoes as he soon saw Bakugo giving him nasty looks.

He tried to summon up some of the fight he remembered Himiko had shown when confronting Bakugo and scrunched his nose in an attempt to look mean. Unfortunately he looked more like a bunny wrinkling its nose.

After that display of his ferocity Izuku went back to his classwork, sneaking in a few attempts at drawing.

When the day ended the kids were escorted to their shoe lockers to make sure no one else had tampered with the shoes.

Izuku had his shoes checked, relieved to learn that they'd been left alone. He put them on and looked around for Bastet.

The teacher checked Bakugo's shoes and found that they were filled with excrement, animal excrement at that.

Bakugo fumed, slapping the shoe out of the teacher's hand and spilling the contents onto the floor. "Who shit in my shoes?"

From around the corner of the lockers Bastet poked her head and Bakugo swore he could see the cat equivalent of a smile on her face. A smug smile, with teeth showing.

* * *

A six year old Izuku poked his head into the locker area. He smiled when he saw Bastet pacing nearby.

"Bachan." He whispered and motioned her over.

Bastet looked up him, tilted her head and meowed. Izuku crouched down and motioned again. This time, she went up to him and he scratched behind her ear, earning soft purrs from Bastet.

He led her further into the school until he found what he was looking for: the library.

He'd recently learned about it and it seemed like a good place to stay while he waited for his mother to come pick him up.

The only issue was going to be sneaking Bastet in.

Luckily for both of them, the librarian was busy and wasn't at the front desk.

They snuck in and found a secluded spot near a corner with a little beanbag chair. This was perfect: a comfy chair, Bastet's company and a book would make waiting for Izuku's mother much easier.

Izuku set about looking for which book to pick out. There were a lot of books on animals but one in particular caught his attention. The only issue was it was higher up on the shelf.

He stepped on his tippy toes and stretched his hand but he could only just barely touch the bottom of the book's spine.

He reached and strained and was about to give up when he saw Bastet jump up onto the book's level. She nudged it with her paw and it loosened bit by bit.

The book fell and Izuku managed to catch it before it hit him in the face.

He brought the book over to the beanbag and sat down, waiting for a moment. Bastet hopped onto his lap sniffing him and patting him down before she curled up on him.

Izuku held the book in front of him staring at the cover. It was a book on the different types of cats.

Izuku went through the pages slowly, sounding out some of the harder words. Bastet's frame rose and fell with her breathing as she sat there patiently with him.

Izuku saw a type of cat that looked familiar. On the pages were cats of varying colors; black, white, orange, and many combinations. They had small stubby feet like Bastet did that made them look closer to kittens than full grown cats.

Izuku read the name on the page. "Munch-kin…"

He peered down at Bastet. "Is that what kind of cat you are, Bachan? A munchkin cat?"

Bastet tilted her head up to him at the call of her nickname. She gave him a single meow in response and then began licking her paws, purring as she did so.

Izuku went back to looking at the pictures and after turning the page found a munchkin cat that looked exactly like Bastet. "Bachan, it's you."

Bastet paid little mind to the book and continued cleaning herself.

There was a small annotation under the picture and after reading it Izuku's nose scrunched in confusion.

"Who's over there?"

The sudden strange voice gave Izuku a start and even Bastet moved her neck to see what the commotion was.

Through some bookshelves they saw someone approaching.

"Bachan, hide."

Bastet quickly scurried off and a woman appeared before Izuku. The tag on her shirt had the word 'librarian' on it.

"Oh, are you waiting for your parents?" The woman looked down at him through thick rimmed glasses.

Izuku nodded. "I'm waiting for my momma."

"Does she know you're waiting in here?"

"Yes, I told the lady at the front office."

The librarian hummed in agreement. "What have you got there?" When Izuku showed her the cover of the book she asked, "Do you like cats?"

Izuku nodded again, this time more vigorously. "I like animals."

"What do you like about them."

Izuku caught sight of Bastet hiding in one of the shelves. "They're so friendly. If you're nice to them they're nice to you."

As if on cue Bastet pounced out from the shelves and introduced herself with a meow and large dilated pupils.

"Bachan, you were supposed to hide."

Bastet rolled over on her back, paws outstretched.

"Please don't make her leave." Izuku got off the beanbag and knelt down by Bastet. "She's not bad I promise."

The librarian knelt down as well and scratched Bastet's stomach. "Oh, I can see that. She seems like a good cat."

Bastet's feet twitched and she tried to grab onto the librarian's fingers with her paws.

The librarian eyed the book and Bastet. "Were you trying to learn about her?"

"Yeah! I found her in the book, look!" Izuku held the book open showing the librarian the picture he'd been looking at.

The librarian squinted and adjusted her glasses. "You're right. That looks just like her." She scrunched up her nose as she read the caption under the picture. "Well that can't be right."

"What is it?" Izuku's eyes blinked with curiosity.

"That picture was originally from a long time ago. At least a hundred years."

"A hundred years…" Izuku repeated quietly. He counted quietly on his fingers. "two..four..six..eight..ten." He stopped, gasped and looked up the librarian with a serious expression. "I need more fingers."

The librarian burst out laughing.

Izuku tilted his head in confusion. Bastet sat up and did the same, mimicking Izuku.

The librarian took a moment to finish laughing, wiped tears from her eyes and patted both Izuku and Bastet on their heads.

The librarian calmed herself down and pointed to Bastet who playfully swiped at her finger. "Is she yours?"

Izuku shook his head, the bunny ears of his hat flapping side to side. "She's a stray but she follows me sometimes."

The librarian tapped her chin with one hand, the other still being swiped at by Bastet. "I guess you wouldn't know if she has a quirk then."

Another kid in the library squealed as their mother came to pick them up.

The librarian saw the exchange and found herself smiling at the sight. Another woman entered the library looking and the librarian spoke to Izuku. "That's not your momma is it?"

"Uh-uh." Izuku sat back down on the beanbag, deciding to just wait.

They got into a bit of a rhythm: the librarian would talk to Izuku about some of the books that were available that he hadn't seen when he walked in, someone would walk in to pick up their child, and she'd ask Izuku if each was his mother.

The librarian looked back to Bastet who had sat herself back on Izuku's lap. "That picture of her, or well the cat that looks like her." She waited for Izuku to nod before she continued. "Would you want to know more about that if I can find anything?"

"Yes!" Izuku hugged Bastet. "She's one of my best friends, so I want to know everything about her."

The librarian smiled. "Well if you decide to wait here on other days I can let you know what I find." She gestured towards a woman with chubby cheeks. "Is that your momma?"

Izuku shook his head for what was probably the upteenth time, getting a slight headrush as the bunny ears flapped him in the face. Then he saw her.

Inko walked in, her long hair in a ponytail, some dirt on her cheeks, still wearing her hero costume with the hoodpiece off. Her eyes landed on Izuku and she smiled brightly.

Izuku jumped up, his voice getting ear-piercingly loud in the way that only children can do. "That's my momma!"

* * *

The next day Izuku found himself once again in the library after school. Bakugo and the other kids chased him away from the front of the school so Izuku decided to stay in the library where he knew Bastet could follow him.

Once again, he was on the beanbag but he had his favorite toy with him this time; the All Might figure Himiko had gotten for him. He played with Bastet who swiped without baring her claws at the figure everytime it got close.

Bastet's tail swayed against Izuku's side while they played.

Izuku dropped the toy and it bounced with a muted thud on the carpet.

Reaching down to pick it up, Izuku saw the writing on toy's feet. On the flat part of the feet were two names, one on each foot. On the right foot was Izuku's name, on the left was Himiko's.

Izuku picked the toy up and hugged it. He still missed her. She was the only other kid that ever wanted to play with or even be near him. It was lonely without human friends.

Bastet got into his lap and wiggled her way under his arms to get in on the hug. She rested her paws on his shoulder and rubbed her face against him. Her whiskers tickled him and he giggled.

He was glad he still had Bastet with him. It could be lonely without human friends but animals, especially Bastet, made it bearable.

He stroked her fur with one hand, keeping the other around the All Might toy. He wondered if Bastet could help him bear it until he met Himiko again.

Would it be soon or would it be a long time before they met again? Would she remember him? Was she feeling the same thing he was? Had she made friends? Did his gift help her when she was lonely?

These questions ran through his young mind without an answer in sight. He touched the All Might toy's hair. The two protrusions looked like bunny ears to him.

He took great care of this toy ever since Himiko gave it to him, moreso because she gave it to him than because it was All Might. Izuku still liked All Might but he was no longer Izuku's favorite hero. Another hero, one closer to Izuku had taken that spot.

His mind wandered back to the image of Inko saving him from being crushed, her hands outstretched, face taut with concentration, the boulder of a hero turned debris bending to her will, her quirk, her desire to save Izuku.

Izuku felt a giddiness well up inside. He thought that was the coolest anyone had ever looked. He set the All Might toy down and Bastet back on his lap. Izuku pulled his hat down so that it stopped right at the bridge of his nose, attempting to imitate Inko's hero mask.

Unfortunately, Izuku's hat was too big and did not have eye holes so he looked like a rather goofy blind bunny instead of the great courageous hero he was aiming for.

He then felt goofier as Bastet raised her paws and tugged on his hat, pulling it down and off his head.

Izuku was going to reach for his hat but the librarian approaching him caught his attention.

The librarian had a book in her hand but motioned to Bastet first. "That picture you found that looks like her. I tried finding where it was from and if I'm right it's from around the time quirks first started showing up."

Izuku blinked at her and the librarian realized a boy his age would have no understanding of the history or what that meant.

"It's at least two hundred years old," she clarified.

Izuku's mouth gaped open and he brought up his fingers, attempting to count.

The librarian waved for him to stop. "You don't need to count it out. Just know that it's a long long time ago."

"So Bachan is that old?" Izuku lightly poked the tip of Bastet's ear who seemed more interested in using Izuku's hat like a blanket. "But she doesn't look old."

"Well that's _if _she's the same cat. It could always be another cat that was in the picture."

"But it looked just like Bachan," Izuku argued. "The ears and the nose and the eyes and the fur, everything looked like Bachan."

"Maybe it's a quirk. It was uncommon but not unheard of for animals to have quirks back then."

Izuku wrinkled his nose. "Well I never heard that." He looked back down at Bastet. "Is that why you're so smart Bachan? Are you really old?" He let out a slight gasp. "Can you talk?"

Bastet meowed at him and put a paw on his face.

"Bleh, it's in my mouth." He removed the paw from his face but Bastet just grabbed onto his hand instead, hugging it.

The librarian smiled at the sight then blinked. "Oh, right. This just came in today and I thought you might want to have a look. It's not cats but I figured you'd still like it."

Izuku peered at the book she held out for him. A book about geese. "Jeese," he read.

"Geese," she corrected politely. "A 'Gee' sound not 'Jee'."

"Gee," he repeated, taking the book and staring at the geese on the cover. There were a couple but the one that caught his attention was dead center on the cover. A white goose with an orange bill and its wings outstretched.

"Hope you enjoy it," she said as she waved and left.

"Thank you." He called out before turning back to the book, mesmerized by the white goose. "It's so pretty. Look Bachan."

Bastet still clung to his hand but paid no attention to the book. Izuku decided to just go ahead and read then. Since Bastet was on his lap and holding onto his hand, Izuku placed the book on Bastet, using her like a table.

She didn't seem to mind as he turned the pages, soaking up everything he could about geese. He'd played with ducks but never geese. He'd never even seen a goose up close before.

Time passed by quickly as he engrossed himself further and further into the book. Eventually, drowsiness began to wash over him and he drifted off to sleep, the book sliding off his lap and onto the carpet next to the beanbag.

Bastet was apparently satisfied of playing with his hand and instead kept herself busy by licking herself.

She cleaned her fur, then her paws, spreading them out like fingers. When she was done she looked up at Izuku. She gave his shirt a few sniffs and then licked it once.

She decided against the shirt and climbed up onto his shoulder, sniffing his green curls. She dug her head in, as if trying to identify the boy then gave his hair a few licks. She licked his hair like a mother cat would clean one of her kittens.

* * *

A few days later, Izuku poked his head out of one of the school's side doors. He scanned around the outside but spotted no one close enough to stop him. He edged out of the building with Bastet in tow, both tip-toeing as quietly as they could like a couple of burglars.

The pair made their way towards the wooded area right by the school grounds, the same one they'd been in before when Izuku had tried to help Bakugo up. Izuku held his cheek, the strike having long healed by now, as he and Bastet entered the wooded zone.

Izuku tried to piece together what he'd done to make Bakugo so angry but he couldn't figure it out. He'd just tried to help him so why was Bakugo so mad at him? Why did he go out of his way to target him sometimes? Maybe if he asked him what was wrong that would work.

Izuku nodded to himself. Yes, he was sure that would help. Whenever he felt like he had no idea, trying to learn more always helped him. It worked with the sewing he was learning from his mom, and it worked (somewhat) when he tried to figure out what Bastet liked to do, so it should work for dealing with Bakugo.

Bastet's ears twitched and lowered. Izuku saw that and concentrated on his surroundings. Bakugo could wait for later. Right now he was interested in learning more about something else. He'd overheard from some of the other kids that it had supposedly been hanging around in these wooded parts so he wanted to see for himself.

Bastet's body lowered as she took a more cautious stance. Izuku poked his head past a tree, seeing first the stream with the log bridge then he saw it.

Bathing itself in the stream was a goose, its feathers a bright white from the sunlight shining through the trees and onto the river: the one part of the woods out in the open.

Izuku stood there, arms clinging to the tree just watching the goose waddle in the river, mesmerized by its mannerisms and appearance.

He said nothing and did not move. Bastet remained still at his side.

Izuku regretted not bringing any paper or pencils with him. He really wanted to draw the goose. Instead he settled for eyeing its feathers. He'd pet ducks and they were very soft. He wondered if that was the same for a goose. Maybe he could get close to it. Ducks were very friendly, especially after sharing food.

Leaves crumbled somewhere behind Izuku but before he had a chance to look back, the goose's neck twisted in their direction and Izuku locked eyes with it.

It honked at them revealing little teeth lining the inside of its beak.

Izuku found it a bit scary. It wasn't showing its teeth like Bastet when she yawned or was being playful. It looked more like it was upset.

The goose spread its wings making itself seem larger. It had already been bigger than either Izuku or Bastet but the way it spread its wings and hiked its neck up made it seem more threatening.

The goose honked loudly once again, its frame in a menacing outstretched stance.

Izuku racked his mind trying to remember what one was supposed to when a goose got angry. Run away? No. Talk to it? It probably wouldn't understand him. Fight it? Definitely not.

It clicked for him.

_That's right, we just calmly and slowly back away without turning our backs. We let it know we don't mean it harm… _

Bastet snarled and stood on two feet, placing herself in front of Izuku.

"Bachan, no." Izuku grabbed Bastet's sides and slowly tried to pull Bastet back.

Each time he did the goose honked and took a step towards them. Izuku's young mind raced.

Why was it coming after them? They were leaving. They were backing away slowly. Why was it still angry? Instead of leaving them alone or running away why was it approaching them?

Amidst Bastet's snarls and the goose's honks Izuku heard something, a softer much smaller honk from behind him.

He turned his head and spotted a group of young geese huddled around and under the wings of another full grown goose.

Izuku put the pieces together. That's why it was angry. Those were its babies and the other goose was its mate. Of course it was coming for them, they were between it and its family. There was no other way to protect its family than for the goose to get closer.

Izuku tugged at Bastet, pulling her backwards and to the side to give the father goose easy passage back to its family.

It was a good thing he did too Izuku thought as he saw by Bastet's bared teeth, constricted pupils and sharp claws that she was more than ready for the goose to get as close as it liked.

As Izuku and Bastet backed to the side the goose made its way to its family, eyeing them the whole way.

Once the geese were reunited the father goose draped its large wings over its huddled up family, its eyes darting between Izuku and Bastet's.

Izuku took another step backwards and hit the back of his heel on a rock, causing him to slip and fall on his behind.

Bastet dropped to four feet instead of two and positioned herself so that she could cover Izuku with her body.

The goose father watched curiously and both his and Bastet's eyes locked. A strange understanding passed between them, one not exclusively to the animal kingdom.

An understanding of parents: just as the goose stood tall and kept its family beneath himself so too did Bastet make sure that Izuku was either behind or below her to more easily protect.

The goose's head lowered as did Bastet's. They rested their heads on Izuku and the goose family, Bastet's frame easing as tension left her body when she saw the geese calm down.

Izuku poked his head out from under Bastet and one of the goslings poked its head out from its father's wings.

Izuku smiled. Some form of truce had been made here. He waved and the gosling gave a short excited honk in response.

* * *

Izuku, age 7, was bawling his eyes out as he tried to take back his bunny hat from Bakugo who was keeping it out of his reach.

Izuku had been busy and had only just today tried to ask Bakugo about what the issue was between the two of them.

As Bakugo gripped the bunny hat tightly and up high, Izuku realized that this had been a grave mistake. Trying to interact with Bakugo simply made him angrier and come after Izuku that much more intensely.

Izuku decided that he would proceed without giving Bakugo any attention. After he got back his hat of course.

"Give it back! It's not yours!" Izuku reached and reached but he was shorter than Bakugo.

"Look at him cry, he's like a waterfall." A kid taunted from the side.

The teacher had yet to arrive and start class.

"Careful Kacchan, I bet it's contagious. He'll make you quirkless _and _a crybaby." Tsubasa sat at his desk just in front of an open window.

Some of the boys showed disgust like he had some kind of illness while others joined in on the leering to match Bakugo's face.

Bakugo made sure to only keep Izuku at bay. He'd learned from that time at the river that if he didn't directly harm Deku while teachers were around then he wouldn't get in trouble. If Deku's hat happened to go missing and there was no evidence to point it to Bakugo then he couldn't get in trouble either.

Izuku reached again. He didn't care that he was crying. He didn't care that some of the kids were laughing at him and some stayed away like the plague. He didn't care about whatever problem Bakugo had with him. He just wanted his hat back. It was his most precious gift from his most precious person: his mom, his hero.

Izuku lunged forward and mistepped, tripping onto the floor.

The bell rang and Bakugo decided to get rid of the hat quickly. He brought his hand as far back as he could and then threw the hat, adding an explosion from his quirk to give it extra boost, out the window.

Izuku let out a choked cry as he saw the hat fly out.

The bell finished ringing and Bakugo stepped over Izuku, his foot hitting Izuku's shoulder as Bakugo went to his seat.

Izuku got up and looked out the window, no sign of his hat as tears streamed down his cheeks.

The teacher walked in, an old disinterested man, and began writing on the board.

Izuku stood there by the window for a moment.

"When the bell rings you are to be in your seats." The teacher's voice droned on with little emotion and little care for whatever may have happened before he walked in. He didn't even look back at the class as he kept writing.

Izuku trudged back to his seat, rubbing his shoulder. He sat down, crossed his arms over his desk and put his head down. He kept his head down and cried softly as the class went on.

Everyone else continued as normal, no one noticing the shifting and shuffling in the tree by the open window.

They were on the second floor so only the tree's branches were in range of the window. One of these branches bent slightly as Izuku's green bunny hat moved along, short black paws scurrying beneath the cloth.

The hat slid down to rest on the branch and Bastet wiggled out from under it. She grabbed it with her mouth and jumped in through the open window. She padded in quietly, unnoticed by neither children nor teacher who were too busy writing.

Bastet dropped the hat in Izuku's open backpack that sat by his chair. She looked around and wandered around sneaking into the backpacks of other children for the majority of the class period before returning back to Izuku's side.

Bastet got into Izuku's backpack and waited.

Class ended eventually and the teacher gave an unenthusiastic call for the kids to leave.

Izuku grabbed his backpack but noticed that it was heavier than normal. He looked inside the open backpack to see his hat returned with a burn mark on it.

Izuku wiped the tears from his eyes leaving his cheeks merely damp. He touched the hat and something shifted beneath it. He gave a soft poke and Bastet's head appeared from beneath the hat, her ears twitching.

Izuku gave a slight surprised gasp then covered his mouth, bringing his face closer to the backpack to see Bastet.

"Did you bring this back to me, Bachan?" Izuku whispered to Bastet.

Bastet poked her head out, licking Izuku on the cheek before retreating back inside the backpack.

"EW! It's nasty!"

A voice from another kid caught Izuku's attention and he turned towards them.

The kid was holding his backpack with his arm outstretched as far away from himself as possible, his face scrunched up.

The other children try to pack up their own backpacks but they also cried out.

"It's gross!" One kid cried out.

Another threw his backpack on the ground and covered his nose. A small notebook fell out of the kid's backpack, a fresh yellow stain coating it.

Tsubasa dropped his with a squish as it hit the ground. "It smells like cat piss!"

Bakugo picked his own backpack up, a smug smile on his face. He was sure these idiots had made some kind of mistake. By the sounds of it animals had gotten into their backpacks. They must have let them sneak in through the window or something.

Bakugo huffed proudly. No animal would ever piss in _his _backpack.

He opened his and immediately gagged, his tongue partway out his mouth as he dropped his backpack. It fell to the ground sideways spilling books and a mass of cat shit that went...

_SPLAT! _

* * *

**(Later that day)**

"You want to tell me why I had to find this out from my son and _not _the school who should be keeping a close eye on these children?" Inko's hands were on the principal's desk palms facing down. Her brow furrowed in contempt.

"It's hardly that big of an issue, Mrs. Midoriya. It's not like anyone got hurt." The principal held up his hands placantly, his beady eyes looking up at her.

Inko's nose scrunched at the 'Mrs.' part, her fingers completely devoid of any rings. "Not an issue? That was an instance of bullying," she held up a finger, "quirk usage on school grounds," two fingers, "and worst of all negligence on your end," she held up a third and final finger. "You didn't even know about it until I came here."

"How would you even tell that there was a quirk being used?" The principal shook his head.

"Izuku, sweetie let me see your hat." Inko gently took the hat from Izuku's outstretched hands while he sat patiently in a chair. She held the hat up to the principal's face, showing the burn mark. "Unless these burn marks are from something other than a quirk, in which case you're even worse at your jobs if you let him near something that could have burned him."

Next to the principal stood Izuku's teacher, the old disinterested man who now had his face creased in irritation. "You're going to tell us how to do our job? I have no guarantee that the burn mark isn't from before he came to class to day."

"You don't have a guarantee of anything because you didn't even look at the class the entire time." Inko's shoulders bristled with anger. "I'm telling you how to do your job because it's clear you either don't know how to do it or don't care." She cast a sideways glance to Izuku who looked on with worry. "You are supposed to be looking after and teaching children. You can't just ignore them like some pet. They need consistent supervision."

"Since you're bringing up pets, Mrs. Midoriya…"

Inko's eyes twitched. That was the second time they'd called her Mrs.

"...why don't we address the real issue. Your pet disrupting our classes." The teacher puffed himself up. He was a head taller than Inko.

Inko felt her jaw tighten. Were they really trying to weasel their way out _any _responsibility and shift blame on them instead. She handed Izuku back his hat. That was fine. If they wanted to play that kind of game then she knew how to deal with them.

"You're classes weren't disrupted. They'd already ended." She let her shoulders and jaw relax and took more disinterested stance as she stepped back from the desk.

"Yes, but your cat-"

"What makes you think that's our cat?" Inko wasn't going to give either of them any opportunity.

"Well it hangs around the school and some of the students have mentioned that they see it hang around your so-"

"Oh, so you do pay attention to the children. Just not mine specifically. You know that sounds an awful lot like my son is being singled out for some reason." Inko knew she couldn't realistically bring up a legal issue with the school's negligence at this point but that didn't mean she couldn't scare them a bit.

She still felt bad though as she was essentially framing the school's issue to be with Izuku's quirklessness. She didn't want to make a habit of relying on the laws surrounding protection of the quirkless. She knew it wouldn't be the best way of keeping Izuku safe long term.

It worked though as the principal sputtered to try and divert the conversation to something else. Before he could however, Bastet jumped in through the office's open window.

_Speak of the devil, _Inko thought.

Bastet walked up to the desk and jumped up onto the desk.

"Oh good, you're cat is here." The teacher pointed to Bastet with a tinge of smugness in his voice.

Bastet looked at him, blinking her yellow eyes. She pushed the principal's mug with her paw off the table and onto the teacher's foot.

The teacher gave a yelp while the principal complained about it being a new mug. Inko had to hold in the urge to pet Bastet for that one.

"See, your stupid ca-"

"Language," Inko said with a deadly finality to it.

"Your cat-"

"Not mine." Inko kept interrupting the teacher.

"She has a collar." The teacher gestured to it while he half hobbled on one foot.

Inko blinked and reached for Bastet's collar. Bastet however walked away from her and into the principal's lap.

The principal grabbed Bastet's collar and held it so everyone could see. Scribbled in handwriting that was definitely not the same as seven year old Izuku's handwriting was the word 'Bacchan' in crayon. It was clear as day that the collar was makeshift, not the real thing that would be used for a pet.

Inko fought back a smirk. "Mr. whatever your name was." Inko felt a sense of satisfaction at the teacher's offended face. "We don't own any pets. That," she motioned to Bastet, "is a stray."

Bastet meowed as if agreeing with Inko and jumped back onto the desk, scattering papers.

The teacher quieted down, not saying anything after that.

Seeing that the conversation had seemingly ended Inko motioned for Izuku to get up. She took him by the hand, her eyes switching between the teacher and principal. "If your not going to continue then we're leaving but I do expect the school to deal with this." She motioned towards the burn mark on Izuku's hat.

The principal nodded glumly. "We'll...we'll look into it."

Inko shot a glance to the open window, the tint of the afternoon sky bleeding through. She left with Izuku, closing the office door behind her and leaving the two men with Bastet.

Bastet walked around on the desk, dirtying papers wherever she stepped. The principal gave her a half hearted shoo with his hands. "Goddamn heroes, they get their license, a little bit of authority and think they can tell everyone else what to do."

He looked down at the mess the mug had made on the floor then decided to deal with Bastet first. He looked up and his shoulders slumped. "Oh, come on."

Squatting on the desk was Bastet using the papers like a litter box.

Outside in the hallway Inko kept stealing glances at Izuku, whose face was full of worry.

She ran through some options in her mind. Obviously she was going to look and see what other schools she could get him into just in case but it would be difficult. Private schools were out of the question for financial reasons and even public schools could get picky with students depending on what part of town they lived.

Izuku kept his eyes down as they walked and Inko decided to deal with that first.

She stopped and knelt down to his level and cupped his face. "What's wrong sweetie?"

There was a regretful pout on Izuku's face. "I'm sorry I made you worried and angry."

Inko's expression softened and she brushed the bunny ears away from Izuku's face. "Sweetie I'm not mad at you. That isn't your fault." She pulled him into a tight hug. "And you did the right thing telling me about this. You don't deserve to be ignored or bullied, no matter what kind of excuses people make up, okay?"

Izuku hugged her back, nodding softly but still feeling a mix of emotions inside. A mix of relief at Inko's words but guilt at causing problems for her.

* * *

A few days later Bakugo walked with a number of his classmates in tow after school through the wooded area near the building. Bakugo's fingers wriggled. He'd gotten in trouble for the stunt with Deku's hat, more so for the quirk part than anything else and there'd been extra effort put into stopping him from using his quirk at all.

He scowled. He found himself angry at Deku more than anything. If that nerd had just kept his mouth shut then he wouldn't have gotten in trouble and still able to use his quirk, if sparingly, at school and home.

He stomped on through the wooded area, hoping to find some place to let loose with his quirk. If they got far enough in then the teacher wouldn't notice the sound from his explosions and it'd be harder to spot him with all the trees.

The classmates with him all followed behind him, as he felt they should. He was the best out of any of them so obviously he got to be the leader. They understood that and didn't try to ruin the order that was in place.

Bakugo kicked a pebble on the ground.

Deku didn't do that though. The little nerd kept trying to do stuff he wasn't good at or make a move for Bakugo's top spot. Deku never beat him at anything of course but the idea of him even getting close like second place just made Bakugo angry.

That wasn't how it was supposed to go. The loser isn't supposed to try and beat the winner. He's supposed to stay at the bottom.

Bakugo balled his fists then stopped. He heard the sound of running water. They were likely close to the stream one of the teachers had shown them before. He led the way to the clearing by the stream. There was the log serving as a makeway bridge.

A part of Bakugo ached to rush across it, to prove that he could do it without slipping and falling into the water.

He made his way towards the log when he spotted someone on the other side of the stream sitting underneath a tree. Bakugo recognized the green mess of hair even if the boy's head was down and he was turned away from the stream.

_Deku, _he thought angrily.

He quietly made his way to the log motioning for his classmates to do the same.

This was the perfect opportunity. First he'd cross the log proving himself and then he'd teach Deku not to get him in trouble. They were far enough from the school that he could get away with it. He could even avoid using his quirk just to be on the safe side. That was what people got the most angry about anyway, him using his quirk, not him showing someone he was better.

He made it halfway across the log and then slipped. On his way down he noticed a patch of moss where he'd slipped. Moss must have been growing here in the time that no one else had crossed the log.

He hit the water with a splash.

From the trees on the other side he heard Deku's voice call out. "Hello? Are you okay?"

Bakugo got up and rushed out of the stream enraged. Deku was doing it again. Looking down on him again.

Izuku stood at the base of a tree watching some of his classmates continue to cross the log after there'd been a splash. He hadn't seen who'd fallen or even known that they were there until the splash. He'd decided to call out since he'd noticed that plants had been growing all over the place. He knew the log had a bunch of moss all over it. It was part of why he avoided crossing it.

Instead of getting an answer to his earlier question the boys on the log just ran across and out from the slant that led to the stream rushed Bakugo, his face red with anger.

Izuku knew almost immediately that he needed to get out of there so he grabbed the notebook he'd been drawing in and ran in the opposite direction. He didn't know why Bakugo and his gang were out there but he knew enough to stay away.

He didn't want another confrontation, especially not when Bastet was away chasing birds or whatever had caught her interest.

Izuku ran and ran, shooting glances behind him every now and again. The other kids kept gaining on him. They were bigger and more athletic so it they'd eventually catch up, especially Bakugo.

Izuku saw a shadow glide across the ground over his and stared at what appeared to be wings. He looked up to see Tsubasa swoop down and tackle him, sending them both tumbling.

Izuku gave Tsubasa a kick in the stomach as hard as a could and stumbled up to try and run away. His hand was caught and the next thing he knew, Bakugo struck him and he was quickly on the ground surrounded by the rest of the kids.

Bakugo seethed out some rants but Izuku ignored him and tried to curl up into a ball, hoping to protect himself as much as possible.

One of the kids was about to hit Izuku in the face but Bakugo stopped him mid punch. The blond scolded them and instead hit Izuku in the side. Izuku gasped. Unlike Izuku's face, his side was covered by his shirt so it wouldn't be visible.

Izuku tucked in his arms further trying to cover more of his body when he heard a loud honking.

It got louder and louder and was interspersed with wing flaps but not like Tsubasa's. These were feathered wings.

Izuku peeked from beneath his arms to see the kids quickly run away and a large male goose chase them, it's beak opening every time it honked to reveal small but intimidating teeth.

The kids ran and the goose pecked and struck a few of them with its wings, including Bakugo who ran away crying.

Izuku slowly sat up holding his side. He watched the goose chase them across the log, over the river and past the treeline to where he couldn't see anymore.

He breathed heavily for a while waiting on the goose to return. Izuku was lucky he'd been near its territory otherwise it probably wouldn't have bothered chasing the kids off.

A smaller honking next to him startled Izuku. He looked to his unharmed side to see a gosling honking excitedly at him. It stuck its head between his arm and side snuggling against him.

A moment later a pair of wings wrapped around him and he sat looking up at the mother goose. She dug her beak into his hair and he flinched.

Within seconds however he realized she wasn't attacking him. In fact it didn't even hurt whenever she dug into his curls. He saw twigs and weeds fall to the sides and some grass in the mother goose's beak everytime she dug in.

He realized she was cleaning him up just like he'd seen her do for her goslings on the many occasions he'd watched them from a distance.

* * *

Izuku hopped along happily behind the rest of his class. They were on another field trip of sorts but this time there were some parents to help chaperone the kids.

Among these chaperones was Inko. She'd known that it would be one of her days off from work and had made sure that she would be one of the parents tagging along. It'd be a full day that she would get to spend with Izuku and she didn't want to waste that.

The kids all filled into a building, a museum for the different heroes of the past and the types of heroes ranging from combat oriented heroes to more rescue focused ones.

They went through various sections looking at heroes who's quirks or personas were based around fire, those based in aquatic operations, reconnaissance, stealth. Most of the kids were drawn to either the flashy heroes with elemental based quirks or outright combat heroes.

But not Izuku. Izuku was excited to see any and all heroes. On more than one occasion Inko found herself staying with him as the only other person observing some of the exhibits for the more specialized heroes.

Inko didn't mind however, as the bright smile on Izuku's face and the jump in his step made it fully worth it. She also noticed something that she wasn't sure Izuku himself was aware of: every time he'd check out an exhibit he'd be excited and smile but everytime he turned and saw Inko he smiled even harder. He would look at her like she was the coolest hero in the museum and the joy she felt in heart at seeing the sight would temporarily wash away any fatigue from the previous week's work schedule.

Another two exhibits and the two found themselves in front of one about rescue heroes. The hero that was the main focus was Recovery Girl, a picture of her from when she was much younger was on display showing her care for injured civilians alongside paramedics.

Izuku peered intently at the images, enraptured with that side of heroics just as much if not more so than the other categories he'd seen. Inko made a mental note to take the time and start teaching him about first aid one of these days. She had her own first aid kit at home and he seemed so interested so it made sense to try and teach him early.

The teacher called for their lunch break and the whole class setup in an outdoor section dedicated to heroes with quirks and personas based around animals. Since the spot was outdoors there were animals hanging around though most were cautious of the class.

Izuku sat himself down next to Inko by a piece about a female hero dressed up like a squirrel.

The rest of the class split up into small clusters either in groups of kids or a few kids and an adult. No one else sat near Izuku and Inko.

The teacher sat with the largest group that included Bakugo who seemed uninterested in what the rest of the group was doing, trying to feed nearby squirrels, until he saw that they kept failing at it. The squirrels would get close but the kids got too excited and scared them off before the process would start all over again.

Bakugo huffed eager to show the rest of them that if they couldn't do it then he certainly could. He took some of the nuts that the museum staff had given them for the outdoor section and held out his hand to get the squirrels' attention.

The squirrel saw the nuts and slowly wandered over but stopped at a certain distance and eyed him, waiting and debating whether to go forward or retreat.

Bakugo, shook the nuts in his hand to try and focus their attention but instead the motion scared off two of the squirrels. Realizing that they wouldn't come to him Bakugo tossed a nut near one of the squirrels. It scurried away without so much as a glance at the nut.

Bakugo glared at the squirrels and threw the rest of the nuts at them, scattering their numbers away from the group entirely.

One of the squirrels ran towards the squirrel hero's exhibit. It stopped to look at the squirrel costume then around the room for more food.

Izuku decided to try his hand at this and took a single nut in his small hand. He walked a few steps away from his spot, set down the nut and walked back to his spot. Izuku watched as the squirrel sniffed and slowly approached the nut, stealing glances at Izuku every now and again.

The squirrel picked the nut up, sniffed it, inspected it and looked at Izuku curiously with a head tilt. Izuku took a bite of his sandwich as a peace offering and the squirrel seemed to accept it as it too began eating.

When it finished the squirrel looked to Izuku as if asking for more. Izuku obliged placing a nut between himself and the squirrel, this one right by where he was sitting.

Again the squirrel approached cautiously and again Izuku made no move against it, letting the squirrel decide on its own. The squirrel decided that being next to Izuku was okay and ate its nut. Izuku chewed his sandwich with a puffy-cheeked smile on his face which was soon followed by Inko's who was watching the interaction.

Izuku finished his sandwich shortly after and the squirrel went about its way. Izuku drank from his juicebox, tilting his head every time the bunny ears from his hat got in the way.

Inko reached over and brushed them aside so that Izuku could drink and they heard wings flap and birds cawing.

Looking up Inko saw a small murder of crows drop by and start picking up scraps of the kids' lunches.

A rather puffy and fat looking crow stopped by Bakugo's group and ate the crumbs they'd left behind. Unlike the squirrels this crow wasn't shy and went right up to Bakugo attempting to eat from the sandwich in the blond's hand.

Bakugo angrily swatted at it and chased it away into the air. In his anger Bakugo threw a piece of bread at it which missed and landed over in the general area that Izuku was sitting.

The majority of the crows descended on that one piece of bread, including the fat crow. They devoured the food and skipped around looking for more.

Izuku, spotting another opportunity, gathered up the crumbs of bread from his lap and set some of them next to himself.

He didn't need to wait long as the fat crow wandered over and pecked away at the crumbs. When it finished Izuku held the rest of the crumbs out in his palm. The crow sat down right in front of his hand, its body looking fatter as it pressed against the bench. It ate right out of Izuku's hand.

Izuku reached out very slowly and gave the bird a light touch on it's feathers with the tip of his index finger. The bird ruffled its feathers and continued eating.

"Look mommy," Izuku whispered excitedly, "it's so chunky."

"Yes sweetie, it's a very chunky bird." Inko brushed a bunny ear from Izuku's face once again, marveling at the childlike wonder in his eyes.

Izuku seemed to always be so interested in learning, each new thing taught to him he responded to as if it were a gift.

It was always over small things and yet Inko always found those moments, just sitting there watching her son so happy to be when she felt most fulfilled.

She found her thoughts drifting to how she'd cared for him over the years. How she worried and fussed over him sometimes, how she couldn't always buy him things that she knew he wanted, and how things with Hisashi had ended.

And yet, for all the problems and concerns that seemed to continuously arise since Izuku's birth she could not find a single shred of regret in having Izuku.

She reached out, pulling Izuku into a tight hug. He turned his head, smile widening, cheeks creasing, eyes shining with the chunky bird now sitting in his hands.

The bird looked as if it was melting into his open palms as it got comfortable and closed its eyes.

The trio stayed that way for a bit until the class was called to continue their tour around the museum.

Inko let Izuku go so he could move and he gently set the bird down on the bench. The chunky crow opened its eyes and tilted its head studying Izuku's face before flying off followed by the rest of the crows.

Izuku and Inko rejoined the class and went through the rest of the museum with the same energy as before the break until they got to the end.

At the end there was a special surprise the museum staff had for the kids. They had a bunch of hero themed clothes of different sizes and color schemes for the kids to have.

The clothes had been to help celebrate the museum's opening a few months ago but as few people visited there wasn't much opportunity to give stuff out so the staff decided a class of hero loving children would be a perfect fit for this.

The kids didn't need to be told twice as they rushed for the clothes picking out and assembling outfits that made them look the coolest or had their favorite heroes. Of course, All Might was the most common centerpiece for most of the children's choices. Many picked out a shirt or a hat with All Might plastered on the middle.

Inko watched as Izuku picked out a peculiar variety of combos.

The kids were allowed to use the bathrooms to change if they wanted to, which they all did.

Izuku tugged on Inko's sleeve, asking if he could change separately and she agreed, finding him a one person bathroom for him to use. He left his bunny hat with her when he went in to change.

When he stepped out he still wore his bright red shoes but the rest of his outfit was changed. His pants were a dark blue with a small squirrel insignia on one of the pant legs. He had on a grey short sleeve t-shirt with a black square as the centerpiece. Inside the square were a collection of rescue and medic based heroes. A young Recovery Girl was printed on the very middle of the square with a bunch of little cartoon bandages and plus signs decorating the empty space in the square. Underneath the short sleeve shirt Izuku wore a long sleeve black t-shirt. The black sleeves had a zigzagging line running down with the words "Pulse Ultra" printed underneath. On Izuku's head sat a black and white cap with a miniature Gang Orca on the front. Along the sides of the hat were seals and dolphins.

Izuku handed Inko his old clothes and half leaned half bent against the bathroom door, adjusting his hat while she put away the clothes.

Something about that moment spurred Inko and before she knew it, she had taken pictures of him. Something about the pose, the hand on his cap, the light red tint of his chubby cheeks, the glimmer in his bright eyes, the slight curiosity in his face as his mouth was slightly ajar making a small "O" had all compelled her to take those pictures.

Looking at the pictures and back to Izuku it was clear to Inko why she had done so; Izuku had just looked too absolutely adorable to not take a picture, to not make a memory of the sight.

She put the phone and the clothes away and held out her hand. He took it and they left to rejoin the class and continue their, so far, spectacular day.

* * *

Izuku, now eight years old, sat in class working on his art assignment, a drawing of their personal hero. He colored the green suit, the green hood, the green hair and the red toolbelt, finishing his drawing of Inko in her hero costume.

He wasn't wearing his bunny hat: he'd stopped wearing it during school after Bakugo had tossed it out the window. The only exceptions were times like the museum trip when he was under the watchful eye of Inko.

Instead, Izuku carried it around in his backpack, tucked in nice and safe.

The windows were closed and Bastet was nowhere to be seen.

The teacher's phone rang and she stepped out for a bit. It was close to the end of the day anyway so she figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal if she was away for a bit.

She shut the classroom door behind her and kids immediately began getting up. They peeked over and shared their drawings with each other, marveling at the cool heroes everyone was drawing.

Izuku didn't join them. Instead he kept focusing on his drawing of Inko. The longer he worked on it the prouder he felt about it.

He added a large boulder like object next to Inko, making it seem like she was controlling it.

"Woa, that's so cool." A voice spoke from over Izuku's shoulder.

Izuku looked up to see that a few kids were gathering around him.

"Yeah, who is that?" The kids were eyeing his drawing.

Izuku felt a smile tug at his lips. "My mom."

"That's looks so good." A girl leaned over pointing to Inko's costume.

Izuku felt a warmth spread across his cheeks. He wasn't used to everyone coming over to talk to him, even less to people praising him. A part of him wished he had the bunny hat on so he could hide under it.

He'd felt happy with the drawing but having other people chip in and agree with what he felt inside just added a fulfillment, a joy he hadn't come across before.

Izuku was so busy curling up into himself from squeeful embarrassment that he didn't see the anger and jealousy boiling over in Bakugo's face.

Bakugo quickly finished scribbling and coloring on his drawing before raising it high above his head for everyone to see. "But is it as good as this?"

The kids turned around and marveled at his drawing. None of them could argue; his drawing of All Might was better overall.

The kids flocked to Bakugo, leaving Izuku immediately.

Izuku didn't seem to mind it, in fact he seemed a bit relieved that he wasn't being surrounded with attention. He looked back down at his drawing, pride welling in his chest now that he had a moment to calm down.

One kid peered back at Izuku's drawing. "It's still pretty cool though. How she's controlling the big boulder." The kid made a motion with his hands mimicking the drawing of Inko.

"Yeah," a girl chipped in, "they're both really good drawings. You're both our best drawers I think."

Bakugo's eyebrows twitched. The praise he'd just received had been sullied by having anyone else put alongside him, most of all Deku.

"It's not that good. It's actually really bad." Bakugo stomped over to Izuku's desk. He pointed at the drawing. "See, the face looks kinda funny and the arms look a bit too long."

Some kids tilted their heads and then nodded, murmuring in agreement.

"It does look a little weird." One said.

Bakugo nodded before pointing to another part of the drawing. "And look the coloring looks all weird. It's not one big green suit, there's a mix of green everywhere."

Izuku began to curl on himself again but not out of gleeful embarrassment.

"The hands look a little too big too." Tsubasa chipped in.

Bit by bit the kids added and added places where Izuku's drawing was less than perfect and bit by bit he felt himself shrink with shame.

"And worst of all," Bakugo raised his own drawing, "it's not even someone cool like All Might. It's super lame just picking your stupid mom like that."

"Take that back." Izuku stood up, his hands on the table. His face was a contortion of humiliation, anger and holding back tears.

Bakugo's brow creased. "What?"

"I said take it back, right now." Izuku kept his gaze right on Bakugo, never breaking eye contact.

Bakugo's face twitched. "You want me to take back that your drawing is bad?"

"Take back what you said about my mom." Izuku's hands were now balled into fists.

The other kids all looked on in anticipation. None of them ever really went eye to eye with Bakugo in front of everyone like Izuku was doing.

Bakugo's fingers wriggled with the urge to use his quirk but the classroom door opened and the teacher scolded everyone for being out of their seats.

Everyone sat back down and continued under the stern gaze of the teacher.

Izuku kept staring at his drawing looking at the different parts and replaying everyone's comments over and over in his head.

The longer he stared the worse the drawing looked to him, it's imperfections becoming clearer.

His drawing didn't catch the gentle warmth of Inko's smile, the confident but quiet strength in her eyes, the skill with which she used her quirk. Izuku knew he didn't make any of these pop out perfectly in his drawing and wondered whether he should have even bothered with it, if it would have been better to just draw All Might or someone else. If he didn't make his mom look as awesome as she actually was then what was the point of drawing her in the first place?

He didn't do anything else to the drawing and the bell signalling the end of school rang shortly after.

Izuku gathered his things and went to his shoe locker. Bastet was waiting patiently for him and a hiss from her deterred any fight Bakugo was planning.

Izuku and Bastet waited for Inko in the library, Izuku choosing to stare at his drawing the whole time instead of reading anything.

Even when Inko picked him up from school Izuku kept looking at his drawing.

Bastet left them after they got to their house and once inside Inko began making dinner.

Izuku stood over the trash can with his drawing. He couldn't stand to look at it anymore and let it drop in. He sat down on the couch.

Inko poked her head out over the kitchen counter. "Izuku, where's your drawing sweetie?"

When he didn't respond she stepped into the living room and looked around. "Izuku, where is it? I wanted to put it on the fridge."

Izuku just stared at his swaying feet.

Inko checked his backpack, the sofa and the rest of the room while speaking to him. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"

She finally found the drawing sitting in the trash can.

She picked it up and looked to Izuku with confusion on her features. "Why did you throw it away?"

Izuku gripped his pants tightly. "It's not good."

"What do you mean, it looks great."

"The arms are funny," he said. "And I drew your smile weird. And your hands are too big. And I didn't even do good when I colored it." He kept his head down.

Inko took a seat next to him, one hand on his back and the other holding the drawing in front of him.

"I don't like it anymore," Izuku said.

"I like it, sweetie." Inko put the drawing in his hands and got back up. She went to the kitchen then the bedroom and came back with a small stack of drawings and a full book full of drawings.

All of them were Izuku's.

Inko showed him the drawings from the beginning of the book. Izuku winced as he saw how much worse they were than the one he did that day.

"I like your drawings. In fact, I love them." Inko showed drawing after drawing that he'd made over the years. "I love that you make drawings of me as a hero." She showed him the stack of drawings that came from the fridge. "I love how happy you get when drawing." She made it towards the back of the book. "I love how you always keep at it no matter what."

Inko took the very first drawing in the book, an incomprehensible mess of colors and held it side by side with the drawing he'd made that day. "And most of all I love how each time you draw you get just a little better at it."

Izuku stared in disbelief at the two drawings side by side. Inko was right and Izuku could see it. The difference between the two drawings was night and day. His most recent wasn't perfect but it was so astronomically better that it didn't even feel like it was from the same person.

He grabbed the book and started looking through the drawings himself with the first drawing in his hand. With each new one he noticed something, the face improved, a color used better, the suit closer to Inko's real costume.

Inko's hand brushed his hair and she smiled at him. That encouraging hopeful smile that he tried to draw each time. Like always Izuku understood his mother was right. She always was.

His gaze dropped to his drawing from that day and he felt a sense of hope. Even if he didn't get it perfect this time, even if it didn't look quite like Inko it could eventually, bit by bit. He nodded softly, a thankful smile spreading across his face.

Inko pulled him into a hug, kissing his forehead. "Now what do you say I go pin up your great piece that's still only your best work _so far _?"

"Mhm." Izuku nodded against her side, feeling happy tears well up in his eyes.

It wasn't just that she'd shown him how much better he kept getting but she wanted to show off his drawing in the most visible spot in the apartment with great pride.

He couldn't help but feel uplifted as he was being praised by the one person he looked up to the most in the world.

* * *

Inko walked into her apartment with Izuku one day, carrying bags of things which she had been waiting until getting home to reveal to her son. She'd been so excited the whole way home that Izuku had gotten excited by proxy. Izuku rushed off inside the bedroom, coming back out with his All Might figure. He sat down on the sofa bouncing in anticipation, the bunny ears of his hat flapping like wings ready to take him off.

Inko set her bags down to the side. The excitement in her gaze clashed with the dark bags underneath her eyes. She smiled brightly, seemingly unaffected by the exhaustion from a hard day's work.

"Izuku sweetie, I know you have to wait a while for me after school but I have something for you that can help pass the time now."

Inko reached into the plastic bags and pulled out a pair of bunny themed headphones with ear-like protrusions from the ear part. They were green just like Izuku's hat. But unlike Izuku's hat, the ear protrusions were smaller and didn't get in the way.

Izuku looked on in awe as Inko slowly took his hat off and placed the headphones on him, adjusting it to his size. She pulled out a small device from the bag and pressed a button on it.

Izuku heard the headphones turn on as they began blocking out most outside sounds. Izuku heard Inko's muffled voice come through clear enough as she messed around with the small device.

"During one of my patrols I saved a family, a couple and their daughter. They're musicians and wanted to thank me with something but I thought you might enjoy it more. Here, I'll have it play something for you."

Inko pressed another button and Izuku heard a voice start singing in his ears. It was a young voice, a girls voice about his age. He liked her voice as it was soothing to him. It gave him a sense of calm.

Inko managed to talk over the song. "They said we had free access to any music they ever make, ever. Isn't that great?"

Izuku nodded happily. "I really like the girl's voice." Izuku pointed to the headphones.

"Girl's?" Inko gently pulled the headphones up Izuku's ear to listen. "Oh dear, that must be their daughter. They said she was still practicing and they'd been recording it. They must have accidentally given me the files for her recording."

Inko began pulling the headphones completely off Izuku's head. "Don't worry I can just let them know they gave me the wrong files. I'll get you their actual songs next time."

Izuku held onto the headphones with one hand. "But I like her singing. She has a really pretty voice and even when she messes up she keeps going." Izuku held a soft smile as he met eyes with Inko. "She just keeps at it getting better, little by little."

Inko couldn't stop herself from hugging Izuku. It filled her with a sense of joy and pride that he'd taken her words to heart. She ran her fingers through Izuku's hair.

"I still have to let them know they gave me the wrong one though."

Izuku peered with hopeful green orbs at her. "Then can you ask them to send her music from now on after you tell them? Even if it's just practice, I like her singing."

"Okay sweetie, I'll ask." She gave him a kiss on his head and left him with the headphones.

Izuku put them on and listened contently while Inko went to make dinner for them. Izuku held his bunny hat in one hand and the All Might figure in the other, feeling himself drift off to sleep under the influence of the soothing singing voice.

* * *

"Take it back, right now!" Izuku's small fists shook.

"Or what? What's a quirkless loser like you gonna do?" Bakugo stood higher than Izuku with an expression drifting between angry and taunting.

Izuku glared at him with teary eyes, his fists ready to move. He didn't care that Bakugo was a bit older, that he was already ten while Izuku was still nine. He didn't care that it was just the two of them and Tsubasa, that he was outnumbered, that Bakugo had a quirk and he didn't.

What Izuku did care about was the increasingly frequent jabs at his mother, his hero. It was one thing to say something mean about him, but Inko was off limits. Izuku had had enough.

"Yeah it's just you by yourself, your stupid cat isn't here to save you either." Bakugo pointed to the classroom windows. One was still open but Bastet was nowhere to be seen. She hadn't followed Izuku to school that day.

"Just like you always need people to help you? You don't ever go after someone by yourself. You're too scared to try." Izuku took a step towards Bakugo.

Bakugo's face contorted to full anger now. "Watch it Deku. I'm gonna be the best hero unlike your dumb mom."

"My mom is the best hero! She's not scared of everything like you are!" Izuku was livid, his voice loudly bouncing off the classroom walls.

Tsubasa shifted uneasily seeing both of them so angry. Bakugo just pointed sideways at Tsubasa and told him to get out.

Izuku and Bakugo stomped towards each other.

"See, I'm not scared to fight alone, especially not against some quirkless wannabe hero."

Izuku grit his teeth.

"Even outside of quirks I'm always first. You should just get it already. _I'm _better."

Izuku stared up at Bakugo defiantly.

Bakugo's eyebrows twitched. "I'm better at drawing. I'm better at running. I'm better cause I have a quirk, the best quirk. I'm better than you period."

Still Izuku did not back down.

Bakugo clicked his tongue. "It's not your fault you don't get I guess. You can't learn who's better when you have someone that trash as a hero. She's not even famous and she's hanging around telling people what to do. God your mom is such a bi-"

Bakugo didn't get to finish as Izuku's right fist met the blond's cheek.

Bakugo stumbled back into the edge of a desk and just like that the two boys stopped talking and started swinging.

Izuku rushed forward but was caught in the chest by Bakugo's foot.

Izuku fell backwards onto his rear, knocking into a desk behind him and dropping Bakugo's backpack onto himself.

Bakugo lunged for him, hands outstretched small explosions popping. Izuku grabbed and threw the backpack, blocking Bakugo's hands. Izuku followed by kicking where he could, Bakugo's legs. This caused the blonde to trip and crash into Izuku.

The boys rolled around on the floor as Izuku continued using the backpack to stop the small explosions. Izuku landed hits around the backpack while Bakugo gave up on using his quirk for the most part and punched through the backpack.

Izuku struck and was struck by Bakugo but did not stop his attacks.

Bakugo had been hit harder before but usually the other kid would start crying and give up after he retaliated. But not Izuku. Izuku kept coming.

They rolled around on the ground and Izuku being shorter managed to prop his legs between them, planting the soles of his feet against Bakugo's chest and kicking him off.

Bakugo landed on the top of a desk and Izuku got up, picking the backpack with him, eyeing the blonde's hands, ever wary of the quirk.

Bakugo scrambled himself atop the desk and jumped from one desk to another heading for Izuku, using the high ground to his advantage.

Izuku used a chair to hop on a desk quickly and try and match Bakugo. He saw Bakugo's hands crackle and twitch.

Izuku knew what was coming, he'd seen Bakugo's habit of rushing first with his hands too many times.

Just like clockwork the blonde's hands lunged forward and he stepped onto another desktop.

Izuku threw the backpack, catching Bakugo's hands within the straps.

There was a momentary flash of something other than anger on Bakugo's face; shock, confusion, fear.

Izuku jumped onto the same desk intending to sidestep and catch Bakugo on the side but his foot was too close to the corner.

Their combined weight and momentum shifted the desk and Izuku's foot slipped off the corner knocking him off balance and losing the grip on the backpack.

Bakugo's face contorted into a spiteful grin as the advantage was quickly out of Izuku's hands. Bakugo snatched his hands free of the straps and grabbed Izuku's arm. He pivoted as the desk fell from the uneven weight they placed on it and pulled on Izuku's arm.

Bakugo used the momentum from the desk falling to shoulder toss Izuku as hard as he could.

Neither boy had fully realized in which direction the toss was aimed.

That was until Izuku saw the window frames pass him by and the tree's branches cast a shadow over his face.

* * *

**(Later that day)**

Izuku could feel a heavy numbness across his body. There was darkness all round him and after trying unsuccessfully to open his eyes and feeling the pressure around the top of his head he realized something was blocking his eyes.

He couldn't remember what had happened, where he'd been. He didn't even know where he was.

Beneath the numbness there was a dull pain, centered mostly around his head, back and stomach.

The pain, the confusion, the darkness, it scared him. He felt a sense of loneliness creep over him.

Izuku whimpered, trying to move his hand.

He couldn't. Something was holding onto it. He heard soft crying from that direction.

"M-Mom-my…?" His voice came out rough and it hurt his throat to talk.

He felt his hand get squeezed gently.

"Izuku...sweetie, it's ok...it's ok, mommy's here."

Inko's voice sounded hoarse and Izuku heard a sniffle. Wet droplets splashed onto Izuku's hand.

He squeezed back.

Inko cleared her throat and Izuku heard something brushing around. Droplets stopped falling on his hand. "Do you remember what happened?"

Izuku tried to shake his head.

A sudden rush of pain through his head left him wincing and a wave of dizziness followed immediately after.

"Don't move yet sweetie." Inko rested her other hand on his wrist.

"I...don't remember…" It still hurt to talk and Izuku felt something tight around his neck. He reached up with his right hand and felt bandages tightly wrapped around his neck.

Izuku felt Inko's hands tremble against his. "Bachan found you outside and didn't stop making noise until someone came over."

Izuku heard his mother's voice crack.

"They said you were at the base of a tree...and...and that the window from your classroom was open…" Tears fell on Izuku's hand again. "That you must have fallen and hit the tree on your way down."

Izuku couldn't remember any of it. He couldn't remember the fall, he couldn't remember the moments before in the classroom, he couldn't even remember anything earlier from that day.

He didn't know what was going on.

He felt so in the dark, literally and figuratively.

All he knew was that his mother was crying.

The door creaked open and Izuku heard footsteps. Someone cleared their throat.

"D-Doctor, please come in." Inko moved one hand, the one on Izuku's wrist, away and Izuku heard more sniffling.

Izuku moved his right hand back to his side.

"Well, looks like young Izuku is awake. Don't move if you can help it, it'll make you dizzy. Now I think you're okay to have some of the bandages removed, more specifically the ones around your eyes. I recommend keeping them closed for a few moments after I take them off though. The lights are dimmed but you'll want to give your eyes a moment to adjust."

The doctor closed the door and walked over to Izuku's right side.

Izuku felt the doctor slowly removed the bandages around his eyes. He kept his eyes closed, seeing some light through his eyelids. It made the dull ache in his head a little stronger but not enough that it wasn't manageable.

"That's it. No need to rush it. You can wait to open them whenever you feel comfortable." The doctor gave Izuku a soft pat on his right arm and began to talk to Inko.

Izuku couldn't focus much on the conversation as he tried to keep his eyes closed and willed them to adjust to the low lights. He only caught a few things the doctor told his mom. Something about head trauma, lacerations, broken bones.

He shut his eyes tighter but that just made the headache worse.

It didn't seem like it'd go away anytime soon so he decided it was time to open his eyes.

He did so slowly, inching the lids open at a crawl. Thankfully the influx of color and low light from the room didn't increase the ache much.

His eyes slowly turned everything from blurry outlines to their proper shapes.

Something caught his attention.

He blinked to make sure he was seeing properly. Sure enough there was Bastet curled up by his right side asleep.

Izuku reached over with his right hand, softly scratching behind her ear.

From what Inko had told him, Bastet had essentially been the one to save him. She must have stayed with him the entire time, even after they'd gotten to the hospital. She was always looking out for him.

The doctor bid a quick farewell to Inko and left the room, quietly shutting the door behind him.

Izuku kept his eyes on Bastet. He felt Inko gently brush his hair with one hand, the other still holding his left.

He hesitated to look at her. Hearing her cry had hurt, a lot more than he thought it would.

Still, when she softly called his name and brought her hand down brushing his cheek, he looked up.

He wished he hadn't.

The cheerful, uplifting smile he'd come to always know and love was replaced with a distraught, sorrowful expression. Her eyes were wet, tears spilling down her cheeks. Worry furrowed her brow keeping her face tense.

Izuku couldn't see a shred of happiness on her face, only distress, sadness, pain.

Izuku felt something too, something very clearly. He felt it through the numbness of whatever medicine was coursing through his body. He felt it through the dull ache from his injuries.

Deep down in his small little heart he felt a weight pull down on him, telling him that it was his fault. That he'd done this to her. That him getting injured had worried his mother, made her cry, put that expression on her face.

He didn't know why his mind came to that conclusion.

But he did know that seeing her at his bedside…

Seeing her face loose that light…

Seeing her cry…

It hurt.


End file.
